Dimensional Matchmaker
by Dart Tension
Summary: What happens when a naruto fanboy is transported to the Naruto universe? Well he tries to bring Naruto and Sakura together of course being the fan he is! Will he be successful? NaruSaku,Takes place in pretime skip period to post. Mature Themes.
1. Enter: Dart Tension

Dimensional Matchmaker

By Dart Tension

Author's Note: Hey everyone! Just letting you know this is my first fanfic and this is dedicated to Naruto and Sakura. I plan on making it multiple chapters and might get further depending on reviews. Right now it's summer vacation so I have plenty of time for this story! Although it takes my time away from animating and another story I'm typing solely for my own amusement. Also this is sort of supposed to resemble the anime in a sense of the specials that happen in the beginning and such like the anime does from time to time. RECENTLY UPDATED! GRAMMAR FIXED IN MOST PLACES!

p.s. (Dart Tension is not my real name)

Disclaimer: Naruto and other related characters do not belong to me… so don't sue. Dart Tension does belong to me, so I will sue if he is used. (However if asked nicely I may allow ;) )

Prologue (a.k.a. Enter: Dart Tension!)

Before Episode Special!!!

Sometime after time-skip

Naruto- Hello special viewers! If you are just tuning in, last episode it was hinted that I was going to confess my love to the lovely, intelligent, beautiful, Sakura-chan!

(Naruto's eyes sparkle)

Sakura- I can't wait!

(Naruto becomes shocked)

Naruto- Ahh!!!!!! Sakura-chan! W-When did you get here!?

Sakura- At the start of the special! Baka! But anyways the suspense is killing me!

Naruto- Yes I know! In fact I feel like confessing my love to you now! bonk!

(Naruto gets head bashed by Sakura's fist)

Sakura- Baka! Don't get impatient!

Naruto- (whispers) Ouch Sakura-chan that hurt.

(Rest of rookie 9 and Gai's team poof in cloud of smoke)

All- Yes Naruto-san we can't wait either!

Neji- Everyone has waited for this for a while.

Ino- I was wondering when this was going to happen!

Shikamaru- Yeah… Me too.

Lee- This will be a fine moment in Konoha!

(Naruto and Sakura blush)

Naruto- (whispers) Hey Sakura-chan. Let's start the show already so we can get away from everyone.

Sakura- (whispers back) Agreed.

???- Yeah I can't wait either!

(The camera zooms out to find a young man facing the group in a cheerful smile)

Everyone- (Gets scared from surprise)

Naruto- (Becoming angry from shock) Who the hell are you?!

Dart- My name is Dart Tension! (huge smile) Also I have some bad news!

Everyone- What?!

Dart- Yeah! Turns out the animators didn't finish the episode so it won't be aired. (smile drops) Sorry.

(Everyone falls to floor in shock)

(Sakura gets up dragging Naruto)

Sakura enraged- I WAS SUPPOSED TO GET NARUTO IN THIS EPISODE! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE WAITED FOR THIS! I WAS SUPPOSED TO GET A HUG, A KISS, OR SOMETHING! (all while pointing at Naruto shaking him like a rag doll who is unconscious from said news)

(Sakura starts shaking Dart furiously by collar while lifted him up three feet off the ground)

Dart- Sa..Sakuu-ur-urr-aaa-chan! I…I…w-w-w-illlll…make…. It up..to…y-you!!!

(Sakura stops shaking Dart)

Dart- I'll make it up to you and Naruto-neesan!

Naruto- We still need an episode to air!

Dart- Don't worry let's just go to how we met! Tada!!! (holds up film) Roll please! (throws off screen)

(Naruto leans towards Sakura)

Naruto- Who is this guy?

Sakura- I don't know but he better make up for us not being able to snuggle!!! (blushes)

Naruto- Aww… Sakura-chan I love you too. (whispers) And we can do that right now.

(Naruto expects punch)

Sakura- (blushes even more) Well at least one good thing came out of this. (hugs Naruto passionately)

(screen fades)

Chapter 1: The spiky, black haired, youth. Dart Tension!

A teenaged boy lay in his bed while doing various activities on his laptop computer. Lately he has been severely depressed mainly from his family. His parents had been giving him a rough time over an "incident" that happened lately.

A month earlier he had cursed at his parents after being lectured about school. They later found a note in his bedroom that showed what he would do to them in their sleep, which involved a lot of torture and name calling. Fearing for their son they talked to him, discussing his future. They even considered having him being institutionalized at a mental hospital. However they let it go, but never looked at their son again the same way. It wasn't his fault anyways. Truthfully he probably should have gone to a mental hospital, for something lurked in his head. 

Nevertheless, he didn't care. He simply just went from website to website on his computer. It was midnight and he was currently on Youtube watching a few Naruto episodes subbed. He had decided to go on a marathon each day that week since it was summer and he had all the time to watch Naruto.

He was very obsessed with the show and thought it was great. He looked forward to watching it or discussing it with friends online or at his house. He would also read the manga version too if he ever had the money to buy an issue. Another thing he found himself obsessed with was his loyalty to Naruto and Sakura's relationship. He had to admit it wasn't a normal one and it was quire humorous, but at the same time, the character Naruto, set an example for him always desperately trying to win the love of Sakura while protecting her.

It wasn't that original but it wasn't common in other anime or manga he had seen. On the other hand, in another window on his computer was his prized story. He had no title for it. It was simply labeled "Dart Tension". That was his name, but he thought it was a cool name that was fit for a superhero; which the protagonist in his story was. He had various powers. Right now he had just finished typing up the chapter where, Dart, had discovered some of his powers and was trying to get used to them. He left that passage in the center of the screen and surprisingly, no other information besides his powers was on that page. Saving it and minimizing, Dart went back to his marathon. He had left it right before team seven got back to Konoha. Before pressing the play button, a voice questioned him inside his head.

"**Watching that cursed show again? Do you have anything better to do?**" the voice questioned. "Vertilous, I see you are awake." Silence from the voice. Vertilous was a demon, his demon. It was an entity that had conjured up in his mind a while ago. It claimed to be a real demon. Dart thought it was just some kind of split personality or something. But at times, the voice almost convinced him it was a demon, taking control of his actions temporarily. Hence the incident a month before.

"Well I could go to sleep and then we both would have to just lay here motionless doing nothing." Dart said. "**Fine! Do what ever the hell you want!!!**" The voice grumbled. He loved pissing the demon off especially when it "awoke". It was funny. He called the demon Vertilous for some reason; he didn't know why. Vertilous also showed a similarity Dart had with Naruto. A demon dwelling inside of him. It probably wasn't real. But Dart could relate to Naruto in a sense. This was one out of many reasons why Dart idolized the fictional character.

Calming the voice in his head, Dart resumed to watching the rest of the episode. Laughing every other second at Naruto's antics. They were about to reach Konoha when something Dart would never comprehend happened.

Appearing out of thin air, a small, emanating ball of light popped out in front of Dart's face. As if it had a life of its own. A small entity had just appeared in the form of a glowing orb in between Dart and his computer screen. As if time had stopped, Dart looked at the glowing ball in front of him. It was not of this world or maybe this universe. It had to be something from the future or something that belonged to a being far immense than Dart. If there was a God, then this was him throwing a grenade at Dart's face. What ever the hell it was, it was still going to do what it was supposed to do. It then expanded to a large, black hole. As if trying to suck everything in it and merged with Dart's screen. Instead of tearing the damn thing apart it just kind of went _in_ the screen. Sucking wildly, the black rift in time and space started dragging his arms towards the screen.

"Vertilous!" This better not be your doing!" "**You think I would pull something like this? Hurry up and do something before we both…**" Too late. Dart was swooped into the dimension to wherever fate had taken him.

**----- **

_Meanwhile, in an alternate universe_

Four ninja walk down a dirt road enjoying each other's company.They were returning from a mission which had threatened their very lives. However they returned home content and unaffected as if though they dealt with this sort of thing everyday. Which they did because they were ninja and would do what ever they had to for their village. The group was lead by Hatake Kakashi, followed by Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and last, but least, Uzumaki Naruto.

They were returning from the land of waves on the way back to their beloved Konoha. Nearing the end of their trip, a very eager Sakura speaks. "Hey Sasuke-kun! Want to go on a date when we get back to the village?" Sasuke continues walking and doesn't reply. Sakura takes back her question feeling disappointed. Naruto speaks, "Sakura-chan! I'll go on a date with you! Please?!" Sakura looks at her teammate. He was wearing his orange, slightly baggy jacket with matching orange pants. It resembled a jumpsuit in way. She also looked at his conspicuous, blonde, round, spiky hair. It stuck out from the rest of him, but what stood out the most from his body were his bright, blue eyes. She had to admit they were beautiful and seemed to glisten when he was happy. He had a very huge grin on his face almost lit up from the answer to come. "Naruto! What makes you think I'd go on a date with you!" a very angry Sakura replies.

Naruto backs up in the fear of being punched in the face as his smile disappears. Naruto looked at his companion, still in fear, he once again put the image of her body in his head. She wore a type of pink dress/shirt with buttons down her chest. The dress fell to her knees but had shorts underneath that resembled spandex. Her lower half of her dress was outlined with white and had a circle on her back. He looked at her long pink hair. It was what made her very unique and pretty. But the thing about her body that made Naruto go wild was her eyes. They were as green as the grass on a bright sunny day and combined with her pink hair, her face glistened with beauty. Then his observations stopped as a pummeling fist sent him back to earth.

Kakashi sighs, for he had already gotten used to his students daily routine. Sasuke remained speechless. Then Kakashi's reflexes kicked into action. Luckily he was not reading his favorite book, _Icha Icha Paradise; _otherwise he wouldn't have noticed the huge black cloud appearing in the sky. It was a normal sunny day so that was not normal. Lightning seemed to erupt from the cloud in all directions and wind blew heavily. After a minute, Kakashi's students finally took notice of the activity in the sky.

Sakura, who had been strangling Naruto, turned away and looked at the cloud that seemed to hover only above them. Then the cloud receded and for a split second, Kakashi could have sworn that a small black hole was in the middle of the cloud causing the ruckus. Seeming to disappear in the rift, the cloud vanished, but was instantly replaced by a small hapless figure that came falling down around their area. Naruto finally spoke and yelled "Kakashi sensei what is that?!" while pointing at the object that was coming straight for them at a high speed. Everyone jumped back about ten feet right before the mysterious "meteorite" crashed into the ground making a minor crater and had made dirt and dust blow everywhere.

When the smoke started to clear, everyone tensed. The figure was moving. Everyone grabbed a kunai knife ready for battle…until they noticed that the falling star was only a kid. Well a teenager about the age of Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto. Everyone put their knives down confused. Sakura questioned "Who is that!" Everyone looked closer. It was a young boy with jet black, spiky hair. It resembled Sasuke's hair but was not as long and was tamer, but as it reached to edge of the spikes, they became wilder. He was a little tan and his face (which Sakura thought was cute looking) was in complete stress and anger. The boy was in some pajamas and no socks on and looked like he had just come over from a sleep over.

The boy then seemed to be shouting and cursing in a language they could not understand. Team 7 looked at each other confused and began conversing. "That was strange," Sasuke muttered. Naruto replied "We should check to see if he's a foreign spy, dattebayo!" Sakura for once agreed and said "We should just leave him alone. He might cause trouble!" Naruto hearing this replies in glee, "Sakura-chan, I'm glad you see things my way!"

Sakura's fist makes its way towards Naruto's head. Bang! "Baka! Stop doing that! I'm just saying we should leave him alone." Kakashi sensei intervened. "I guess we have no choice… we have to take him to the village for inspection of injury and on suspicion of being a spy."

-----

Dart stood up from his hole. "Ouch!!! Damn it!!! What the hell!!!!!! Arghh!!!! This shouldn't happen to me!!!" Dart looked around himself. He was surrounded by a forest. "God damn it!!!!! Now where the hell am I?!!!!! God this is just great!" Dart looked down at himself. He was still in his pajamas. "Oh! You have to be freaking kidding me! Now I'm in the forest with my pajamas on! Wow! I must be extremely lucky!"

Dart then noticed he was not alone. There were four people whispering to each other. He looked at them. The first to speak was a boy in black hair, then someone with very familiar blonde hair… 'Strange' Dart thought to himself. Then a girl in bright pink hair talked. 'Now that's just very coincidental!' Dart thought to himself.

The group was about ten feet away and there was still smoke so it was very obscure and difficult for Dart to identify them. They were also speaking in a different language so Dart could not understand what they were saying, however the language was also familiar. Then the girl with pink hair punched the blonde in the head yelling, "Baka!" Wait he knew that word.

Dart's mind snapped. 'No way!' The grey haired man spoke last and then turned to Dart noticing they were being watched. 'Oh my god!!! Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi? Man this is awesome! I must be dreaming!!!' Dart leapt from the crater and assaulted the group… in a very fan boyish way. He paraded them with questions even though they could not understand him. Even though he couldn't understand a single word they replied. He kept talking out of excitement.

-----

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were caught by surprise and when the kid was in their faces and kept throwing foreign words at them. They felt heavily pressured and shocked, even Naruto, and had a hard time recovering, until Kakashi managed to tie up the boy and throw him over his back. They all let a sigh of relief and walked home with the boy talking nonstop until sometime before they reached the gates of Konoha.

"Jeez about time he shut up 'tebayo! Who the hell is this guy?" Naruto whispered to Sakura and Sasuke. "Hey Kakashi, don't you know like multiple languages or something?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi turned around with a now sleeping Dart on his back, who had passed out from fatigue. "Yes I do, but his is nothing I've ever heard of before. We'll report him to the Hokage. Surely he will have a language specialist." Kakashi said.

Upon reaching the giant gates of Konoha, team seven headed towards the Hokage building where the Hokage resided. Walking up the winding stairs, team seven became more curious of this boy. Kakashi knocked on the room where the Hokage usually did his work. "Come in!" a voice yelled from inside. Opening the door, Kakashi walked into the room with Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke behind him.

"Oh, Kakashi! I see you have returned from your mission. Safely I hope," Sandaime said quietly. Then he looked up from his studies and noticed the boy on Kakashi's back. "Who is that?" "We were hoping you could help us. He speaks a different language, but it's nothing I've ever heard before." Kakashi stated. The Hokage nodded, "I see… Send in Jin!" the Hokage yelled into the next room. A couple minutes later, a ninja in brown hair and in similar robes of the Hokage came in. He must have been a part of the council. The Hokage nodded to him and said to Kakashi, "So tell us what happened from the beginning."

Team seven all gave their part of their story on the events that happened within their trip home. After hearing their story, the Hokage simply said again, "I see. This is not a normal boy. Jin, see if you can understand him, whatever it takes." Kakashi then tapped Dart in the forehead waking him up instantly.

The boy woke up irritated. He looked around to examine his surroundings. Still tied he began yelling in anger, but no one in the room would answer. Jin, the language specialist, shook his head in surprise. "He speaks in a tongue that does not belong in this world. I can't understand him; however, I may be able to make him speak our language." Jin walked up to Dart and then started forming complicated hand signs. Everyone stood back. After a few seconds Jin stopped his patterns and placed his hand on Dart's head. A bright flash struck his head and Dart jerked his head back in response.

"Damn! That hurt! God, why do you people keep giving me that look?! The people that I _idolize _and I can't understand a damn word you guys say. Except maybe a couple… but that's not the point," Dart yelled, "I would think that even the great Sandaime would understand me, but no. Instead I remain an alien to this world unable to communicate with people I would like to know! You even hit me in the head! Man I knew I should have just went to bed. Damn dimensional portal, whatever the hell that thing was." Dart finally let out a sigh and ended his cursing rant. "We know what you are saying now." The Hokage said. Dart froze. "Hey I can understand you! What the hell?"

Finally Sakura went up to Dart and hit him on the head. "Stop cursing you baka!" "Ouch that stings! Now I know what Naruto has to be put up with!" Sakura was about to hit him again when Kakashi stopped her. "How do you know so much about us? Sandaime, Naruto, Sakura and her anger? Explain now." Kakashi demanded. Dart knowing he had no choice told his story from the moment he entered his room at home. Answering _many _questions, he stopped. "I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth! I would never do anything to this village! Your younger genin could probably take me down!" The Hokage taking all of this, thought. Feeling no bad intentions in the boy, the Hokage said, "Fine." "What?" Dart asked. "You will stay in this village then. Seeing as how there is no sure way of getting you home, you will have to become a part of this village. Meaning you have to contribute _and_ become a ninja."

"What!?" team seven yelled out except Kakashi. Kakashi felt the Dart was harmless so he didn't complain. The Hokage continued, "You will be trained with Kakashi and his team because they found you. After an exam of your potential, you can become a genin since you are a special case." Dart complained, "But I never had any type of ninja training whatsoever and have not trained as long as Naruto, Sakura, or Sasuke." "Well you will still be in their company until so. Do not worry. I feel you are special. Kakashi you are dismissed." "Wait! Where am I going to live?" Dart asked.

The Hokage had not thought about this and began to think up an answer. After a minute, he had the perfect solution. "You will stay with Naruto." Dart didn't answer. 'Cool.' Naruto spoke "What are you serious? He can't live with me! I mean I live by myself!" "Exactly," the Hokage replied. Then Naruto thought about this situation. 'Well I guess it would be nice to have a roommate,' he thought. "Sweet! Me and you are roommates now!" Dart said with a grin on his face and put his arm around Naruto's shoulder as if though they had been buddies for years. Sakura thought to herself 'I actually feel sorry for Naruto. I would hate to be stuck with him for the whole day.

-----

It was still noon and Kakashi had gone to go on his own business leaving his team on the busy streets of Konoha. Normally Sakura and Sasuke would have gone home, but they were curious about Dart and decided to stay with Naruto, helping him give a tour of the Konoha. After about two hours, they had covered everyplace he needed to know. He know knew where a lot of places were now including the academy, the Hokage statues, the training grounds, and they stopped at one of Naruto's favorite restaurants, Ichiraku Ramen. Everyone hungry, they decided to eat there much to Naruto's delight.

"Yes! Ramen, I can't wait to dig in!" Naruto said with a big smile. "Wait Naruto! We have a guest, why don't you buy him a bowl?" Sakura said with demanding look on her face. "Oh how could I forget Sakura-chan?" Naruto ordered two bowls of ramen, one for Dart, and one for himself. Dart looked at the bowl. It was real ramen. Back home (in America) he had never seen ramen look like this before because it was always instant in a bag or cup and had no natural flavorings. Dart loved ramen, but seeing the look of this, he wanted to cry. He had always wanted to try an actual bowl, but he never found a restaurant that had any. Now he was eating some with the hyper active ninja and ramen freak Naruto. He had to be dreaming.

He raised his chopsticks. He was not used to chopsticks and had only used them only a few times in his life, but he knew the proper way to hold them. After a couple times he couldn't raise the noodles in the air until he found a proper technique. It also made him look like he ate with chopsticks his whole life. He was about to take a bite before he realized that he was in a Japanese culture and should have showed some respect. "Itadakimasu!" he yelled out in glee and then began stuffing himself to his heart's content. He was glad he saw practically ever episode of Naruto.

Sasuke watching him the whole time thought, 'Well at least he caught on and has some manners.' After a while everyone finished except Naruto who was on his ninth bowl. 'What a pig!' Sakura thought. 'Dobe' Sasuke thought. 'What a monster!' Dart thought with a shocked expression on his face. Finally Naruto finished and paid his bill, leaving his wallet a lot lighter. "Arigatou, Naruto-san" Dart said. "Uh no problem…um, what's your name again?" Then Sasuke spoke, "Yes, we yet have to hear your name." Sakura put on a cheerful smile and said, "Yes we are quite curious!"

Dart looked at them and said "How rude of me! I'm sorry; all I've been doing today is cursing and yelling. My name is…" (Then Dart realized in Japanese culture, you had to reverse your name when stating it) "Tension, Dart!" "Well, it's been a pleasure to be in your company," Sakura said with a bow and walked home. "Yes same here," Sasuke said with a smirk. He left home too and left Dart and Naruto at the restaurant. "Well I guess you are coming with me then," Naruto said with a sigh. Dart followed him home to an apartment on the second floor. Upon opening the door, Dart looked around. It was very small. It had one bathroom with some cramped space and a shower. The kitchen consisted of a sink, a stove, an oven, and a small refrigerator that was connected to the bedroom. It also had a couch that could fit a person if they lay down on it which was located towards the center of the bedroom. Off to the corner was a much larger bed. "You sleep on the couch, I'll get some blankets," Naruto said. "Sure thing" Dart replied. Opening a small closet, Naruto grabbed some extra sheets and threw them on the couch. "Arigatou, Naruto-neesan." Dart said. 'Alright, I think I got this honorifics stuff down.' Naruto went to his bed and went to sleep saying goodnight. Dart went to the bathroom and examined himself in the mirror. His reflection made a nasty grin, but his own face didn't.

A normal person would have freaked at first sight of this, but Dart didn't since he was used to this. 'What do you want?' '**I see you made some friends.**' 'Yeah, so?' **'Well then, I guess we are stuck here. I blame you.' **'Whatever' **'Arghh! I hate you!' **'I hate you more!!!!!' Then Dart punched at the wall and he made a hole. Making a loud bang, Naruto yelled from the bedroom, "What was that!" "Oh nothing!!! I just slipped!" Dart yelled back.

'What the hell was that!' **'I don't know, but I like it.' **'Oh shut up.' Dart thought silencing the voice in his head. He had made a hole through the wall, a solid hole. Dart knew the walls in Naruto's apartment weren't _that_ thin. Then Dart began suspecting something. He was in the Naruto universe because he was watching it on his computer. However, he still had his story about the _Dart Tension, the super hero,_ story. He recalled the latest progress he made was when; the hero discovered most of his powers. He had enhanced strength, enhanced speed, and an unearthly ability to generate a force of energy from any part of his body and shoot it or manipulate it into several ways. That was his theory, that the rift also took a form of the story and had made it reality.

There was only one way to find out. Dart concentrated on his hands for a couple minutes. Then he saw a bright, white, glow with blue edges emanate from his hands. 'I'm right! This might make my life as a ninja possible!' Dart had several powers for his superhero lined up. He just needed to discover them on his own, but he knew it would take a long time too, because the superhero did the same in his story. 'I'll show Naruto and the others in the morning' he thought sleepily as he left the bathroom and glided into the couch under the warmth of the blankets.

Chapter End

More Notes: Finally done. All I can say is review! Your words and thoughts are what motivate me! Also my grammar with Japanese phrases might be wrong so feel free correct me. Also I would appreciate it if someone gave me a good explanation on honorifics example: "Sakura-**chan**".

I'll have more chapters within the month! Review please!!!


	2. Preparation: I will be a ninja!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Naruto characters so no one sue.

Dart Tension is mine though.

Author's note: Glad I got some reviews for the first chapter! The first one was pretty slow since I had to introduce all the main characters and descriptions. Now we can get to more Dart development and NaruSaku romance! Also as a side note. If you are confused about the "lemon" part, just letting you know that won't happen till' later on in the story. Right now I'm slowly building up Naruto's and Sakura's relationship realistically as in the manga or anime. So don't expect that until some ten chapters away if that's all you are reading this for. Also I'm sorry if the characters seem OOC. I'm trying real hard. **Warning! There's bad language here!**

Also I've been raising some confusion on Dart calling Naruto "neechan" in the last chapter. I believe it means brother & sister. If I am wrong, someone please correct. After all I'm a little new to this honorifics stuff. UPDATED! Fixed Neechan thing to Neesan.

Final note:

' means thoughts.

" means speech.

_After time skip_

Naruto- Hey Dart.

Dart- Yeah?

Naruto- If this take place three years ago, then why are we still older?

Sakura- I've been wondering about this myself.

Dart- Yeah. About that…

(Poof)

Dart, Naruto, and Sakura come out of smoke in pre-time skip ages.

Naruto & Sakura- We're kids again!!!!! No!!!!!!!

Dart- (sigh) Don't worry! The story will go back to the shippuden era in time!

Sakura- I liked my body!!!! (sobs)

Naruto- Hey I'm short again!

Dart- (Hugs both) It's alright because we can grow up together now!

Naruto & Sakura- Fine…

Naruto- Start the episode!

screen fades

Chapter 2: Preparation: "I will be a ninja!"

It was morning and Dart woke up to the sound of Naruto making breakfast. "Damn. What time is it?" "5:30" Naruto replied. 'I haven't been up at this time since…. forever!' Naruto was already dressed and was making scrambled eggs. Dart got up from the couch and took a shower. Coming out in a towel around his legs and waist Dart frowned.

Naruto, who was already eating his eggs, looked up and noticed the reason why. "You don't have clothes, do you?" Dart nodded and Naruto got up from the table and smiled. "Don't worry you can borrow my clothes until we get you your own!" Naruto lead Dart to his closet. Dart looked through and examined. There were some black undershirts, numerous orange jackets with matching pants, some white shirts, jeans, and various shorts. Dart picked out a black shirt that Naruto wore under his jacket and some light brown shorts. After eating breakfast, they both head out.

The sun was barely rising when Naruto and Dart met up with Sasuke and Sakura at their normal meeting spot on a bridge. Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto & Dart and waved. 'Damn. If I'm right, we're going to be waiting for a while!' Dart thought keeping in mind Kakashi's record for tardiness. Naruto leaned against the side and looked into the water next to Sasuke. Dart was on the opposite side next to Sakura with his back leaned against the railing.

Sakura looked at Dart and giggled at his clothing because she recognized it as Naruto's. Dart noticing this, made his face turn slightly red and hid his expression. Sakura thought about the day before in the Hokage's office. Dart said he was from a different world. She was curious on what his home was like. "Dart, can I ask you something?" Sakura asked. Dart turned back to Sakura and replied "Sure." "What's it like on your home world?" Sasuke and Naruto turned towards Dart because they were curious about this also.

Dart looked at the three of them and thought 'Well at least they've accepted the fact I'm not from here. I hope they can take it.' "I'm glad you asked Sakura, seeing as how I would have had to tell you sooner or later. But you can't freak out because of my origin ok?" Dart said with a look of sadness. Everyone nodded. "Ok. Well where to start. Hmm…, For starters, there are no ninja. Where I come from ninjas are a thing of the past and were no longer used in some countries and as time passed they became unneeded because the neighboring countries were able to hold piece or have some tolerance. We still had wars though, just not as often." Everyone remained silent. There was nothing wrong with that and made Dart's world seemed peaceful. Dart continued, "Technology is far more advanced than it is here. Where I come from, we are probably a couple thousand years ahead than you guys here." "Wow." Sakura said in amazement and began to wonder what life would be like in the future in Konoha. "Besides that it's pretty much the same as this world. I can't go in to too much detail without raising more questions than necessary." Dart said thinking he made an excellent conclusion. "Interesting," Naruto said.

After that everyone was pleased and began resorting to their business again. "I'm glad I was here to hear about your own dimension Dart." Everyone turned towards the front of the bridge to find Kakashi sensei reading through his book. Naruto and Sakura responded angrily and began yelling at him for his lateness. A half hour later, team seven found themselves at one of the several training grounds found throughout Konoha.

Kakashi sensei spoke, "Ok team. This whole week we don't have any missions. Instead you three will be training Dart before his exam to deem if he is worthy to become a genin or not." Dart gulped. 'Damn! This is going to be one long week! Well maybe I can still have some fun.' Kakashi continued, "In a sense, it is a mission. Insure the success of the soon to be new member of the team. I will not supervise and it will be up to you three to train him as you see fit. On the exam day, I will be the proctor and I will determine his grade. He will do it alone. Understood?" "Hai!" team seven replied. Then Kakashi sensei left in a poof of smoke.

Team seven huddled up together with Dart and conversed. "So…how are we going to do this 'tebayo?" Naruto asked.

"We should have Dart spend time with the each of us during the week as we each teach him skills," Sakura suggested.

"Better yet, we should each teach him in a certain area of traits," Sasuke concluded. Everyone nodded.

"I got it! Sasuke-kun; you can teach him about chakra and Ninjutsu along with Naruto for assistance, Naruto; you will focus on his Taijutsu and physical training with Sasuke, and I will teach him about chakra control, shinobi principles, and everything I know about Genjutsu." Sakura said brilliantly. "Wow you sure are smart Sakura. You have the pairings perfectly." Dart said with a smile. "Yeah Sakura, I wouldn't have been able to think of a better plan myself!" Naruto added. Sakura's face turned slightly red. She normally would have punched him for such flattery, but something compelled her not to. 'I guess _I am_ the only one smart enough to think of such a plan.' Sakura thought.

"One question though," Dart intervened, "You have it so that the main person teaching me has someone for assistance. Sasuke has Naruto for Ninjutsu, Naruto has Sasuke for Taijutsu, but who do you have?" Sakura thought about this. It's not like Naruto or Sasuke could help too much in that area. Naruto was pointless and Sasuke was… well not all there. Before Sakura could put her thoughts in words Dart talked first. "I have an idea! I understand Naruto's chakra control is kind of horrible, maybe he can hone his skills along with me?" "Hey! Wha…!!!" Smash!!!! Dart slammed his foot on Naruto's foot while trying to keep on a smile. Dart whispered, "You do want to spend some time with Sakura right?" "I guess…" "Then be quiet, I'll apologize later."

Sakura was about to reject this idea of Darts but his smile somehow mesmerized her. She knew already Dart had taken a liking to Naruto and having Naruto help him out would give him more confidence. 'Well maybe Naruto can learn something along too.' "Fine. Since you need all the help you can get!" Sakura stated while pointing a finger at Dart. Dart stepped back a little. "Uh, thanks Sakura."

Sasuke spoke, "Well it's settled. Today let's just have a normal sparring day. Besides let's see what Dart has to offer already." Sasuke had a small grin. Somehow Dart didn't like what he had in store for him. "Yeah! Let's begin!" Naruto yelled in joy. Dart stepped away from the group. "How are we going to do this?" Dart started smiling slowly and found him self with a large grin. He was excited.

"One on one for now," Sasuke said, "Naruto, you first." Naruto got into a fighting stance and thought 'I'll go easy on Dart-san for now.'

"Go!" Sasuke yelled. Naruto charged at Dart. 'As expected.' Dart stood still with his fists ready. Naruto shortly reached him and began punching him towards the chest. Dart had no choice but to block as he walked backwards absorbing Naruto's blows with his arms and hands. Then he didn't see it coming. Naruto did a kick sweep and managed to get Dart in the air while grabbing his torso and flinging him ten feet away.

Dart landed on his butt and fell to his back. 'Damn. He's pretty tough! And from the looks of it, he's going easy on me!' Naruto yelled to Dart, "Oy! You won't be able to become a genin with those moves!"

'He's right! I got to pull myself together! I know I can do this! Remember last night in the bathroom! I have special abilities! I just need to awaken them!'

Dart stood up. He readied his defensive stance with his arms down his sides with his hands open and his legs spread out for any evasive movement. Naruto charged again. 'I just need to focus on his movements. If I remember correctly, I should have advanced reflexes.' Dart looked at Naruto coming closer. He reached Dart and started to punch. As if though time slowed down, Dart could see the hand slowly move towards his chest. He turned his body sideways and dodged the attack. Seeing the fist graze his shirt, he noticed Naruto's left leg rise up towards his chest. Dart hopped to the right just enough to evade the attack. 'I can the movements. It's like time is too slow for me.' Then he noticed that after hopping, everything reverted back to its original speed and Naruto's onslaught of attacks was barely able to be dodged. 'It doesn't last forever, but with training maybe my reflexes can last longer.'

Sakura glazed at the fighting duo and thought, 'He's able to kind of keep up with Naruto's attacks. He's kind of fast.' Then as Naruto pulled back his fist for another punch, Dart's reflexes kicked in again. 'Wait there's my chance!' Catching Naruto's fist, he held it and aimed his hand towards Naruto's chest. Remembering the bathroom wall, Dart changed his fist into a palm and struck Naruto sending him a few feet backwards.

"Not bad Dart." Naruto said with a smile.

"Now let's see how you do with all of us on top of you!" Sasuke said coming out of no where. Sakura getting the hint appeared behind Naruto and Sasuke. "Don't you think all three of us are a bit too much Sasuke?" Sakura whispered. Naruto surprisingly responded, "No it's alright. By his movements, I have a feeling he can take more people on. He's stronger than you think." Sakura nodded staring at Dart. "Charge!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke sighed and followed. Naruto leapt in the air for a tackle. Dart saw this coming and jumped.

Naruto was about to grab his victim when Dart simply leaped over his back in a leapfrog position, pushing from his back for more distance. Naruto fell to the ground on his stomach. Dart noticed Sasuke immediately in his face and started attacking with a series of punches and kicks. Sasuke made a swipe towards his head when Dart ducked, 'Whoa, that was too close.' Then Dart saw his chance with his reflexes still on, he grabbed Sasuke by the stomach, and threw him over his head behind him towards a laying Naruto. 'Nice.'

Dart turned around to find a punch to his face from Sakura. "Don't forget about me!" Sakura said with a smile. Dart stumbled back a few steps with his head dizzy. He turned back and then his reflexes kicked in.

From the corned of his eye, he saw several shuriken coming his way. They were too close for Dart to dodge. Dart didn't even have any Kunai knives to deflect them! He had to think of something quick! Then he saw a large rock sticking from the ground by his feet. It was in place in the ground. It had to be the size of a wheel from a wagon. It would have to do. Still in slow motion he grabbed the rock and without any hesitation and heaved with all his might. It came out without wasting a second and Dart held the rock out towards the shuriken deflecting it.

Everyone stood shocked. Dart let out a sigh of relief. He dropped the rock and it made a huge thud on the ground which made everyone gape with their mouths open. (**Damn he's strong!)** Inner Sakura stated.

"If Sakura hadn't punched you, you would have dodged those shuriken sooner," Sasuke said with his eyes closed. "Luckily you had your strength to back you up." Naruto walked towards the rock and tried to lift it. He found he could only get it past his shoulders without his knees shaking and forcing him to drop the rock. "Dart-san you are pretty strong!" Naruto said with a smile. "Yeah I guess I am. But I'm tired. You guys wore me out!"

Sasuke looked at the rock. "Dart, how strong are you?" Sasuke asked. Dart glanced back at him and replied, "Not sure." Sasuke continued looking at the rock and said. "Punch that tree over there as hard as you can." Sasuke pointed to a nearby tree with a serious face. "What? Are you joking?" Sasuke's expression remained unchanged.

Dart sighed, "Fine." 'Well I did punch a hole through the wall yesterday. I am kind of curious what exactly I can do.' Dart walked over to the tree and stared at it. 'Well here goes my hand.' The rest of team seven looked in curiosity. Dart raised back his fist and swung with all his might. It soared through the air making way towards the soon to be demolished bark. Then a giant crack roared from the tree.

Dart's arm pierced through the tree reaching all the way to his shoulder. 'Damn. My hand feels kind of sore now!' "This can come in handy," Sasuke stated. "Wow Dart!!! That's amazing!" Naruto said with a laugh. Sakura looked at the tree. "Well he's strong for our age. But a Jounin could probably do that!" Sakura said with an unimpressed tone. **(Damn he's strong! Who cares about some Jounin! Dart-san could kick their ass! I wonder what his body looks like!)** Inner Sakura yelled.

Dart looking at everyone's expression, sat down by the tree and rested. "Hey I'm tired! You guys keep training! I'll take a break." Everyone nodded and resumed to their sparring. After a half hour, Dart resumed training with the group for the rest of the afternoon. Everyone took a break before sunset.

Sakura rested against a tree and looked at Naruto & Sasuke who were about to eat their packed dinners. Then Dart came over. "Hey Sakura. What are you doing?" Sakura quickly averted her eyes away and stared into her lap. "Umm. Nothing just thinking." "Well I was wondering about something." Sakura looked at Dart. "What is it?" she asked. "Well I kind of wanted to get as much training as possible so, do you think you could tutor me at Naruto's house since it isn't necessary to take me to a field to train me about chakra." Dart stated.

On the inside Dart had a devilish smile. 'Oh man this is brilliant! Sakura at Naruto's house. Not only can she train me, but she can also spend some time with Naruto!'

Sakura thought about this. 'Well this could be a benefit and a good use of time. I also haven't been to Naruto's house before.' "Ok. However, if Naruto does something stupid, I'm leaving!" Sakura stated seriously. Dart made a very blank face. 'This might be harder than I thought. "Sure Sakura!" Dart quickly ran over to Naruto who was eating his dinner.

"Hey Naruto!" Dart said to Naruto. Naruto looked up from his Ramen cup and looked at Dart. "Yeah?" "Sakura's coming over!" "Nanni!!!!!" "Shh! She's going to train me!" Naruto reflected on this. 'I do like Sakura, but this might be too much.' Dart interrupted his thoughts. "Besides. I know you liker her." "Eh!?" "Come on! You were practically uttering her name in your sleep last night!" This was a lie since Dart was the first to fall asleep the night before and wasn't sure if this was true or not. "Ok. I guess it's alright." Naruto said in defeat. "Ok, it's settled. Just don't do anything perverted because I won't be able to protect you." Naruto made a frown. "Like I would do something like that in front of Sakura-chan!"

Sakura winced from the sound of her name. Dart and Naruto turned their gaze away and quickly started packing nervously. "Jeez, next time scream it out to the world why don't cha?" Dart whispered. "It was you with perverted thoughts dattebayo!" Naruto replied.

Later Dart, Naruto, and Sakura headed back to Naruto's apartment just after sunset so it was getting dark. Halfway there Dart stopped. "Damn! I forgot to get some clothes! I'll be right back! I'll meet you at the house." Dart turned away with a grin hidden on his face. Naruto quickly ran over to him and whispered, "What the hell are you doing?!" "Leaving you alone of course. Don't do anything stupid." Then Dart was gone in a flash.

Naruto sighed. "Well it's just you and me now." Sakura nodded. "Ok. Just lead the way." "Right." Naruto walked with Sakura towards his apartment making sure to keep his distance. However by the time they reached the stairs to his apartment she was within an arm's reach away due to her fright of something awaiting in the dark.

Naruto opened the door and lead Sakura inside. 'It's kind of small.' Sakura thought. "So where are your parents?" Naruto shocked by the question turned his head down. "I…don't…have any." He said with hesitation.

It was at this that Sakura became mad. She was expecting adult supervision, but instead she would be alone with two boys for a couple hours. This wouldn't do. This was very irresponsible. Who knows what she happen to her if she was left by herself with two stronger boys.

Then she looked at Naruto. He still had his head down. She couldn't see his eyes, but she knew they were probably on the verge of tears. 'Wait I shouldn't think about that. Besides, Naruto would never do something like that!' Sakura walked over to Naruto and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. You must get pretty lonely here."

Naruto raised his head and Sakura was expecting tears in his blue eyes. Instead he had a smile and said, "Its ok. Besides, I'm not lonely anymore because Dart-san is my roommate now dattebayo!" Naruto made a chuckle. Sakura giggled and unpacked all her scrolls and books. Naruto turned all the lights on and made tea.

When Dart returned, he found Sakura & Naruto talking about stuff about being a ninja, everyday life, and personal questions. He noticed they were laughing. Dart came in through the door and interrupted, "I see you guys are having a good time." Naruto and Sakura looked up at Dart and both made angry faces. Sakura started, "Baka! You were supposed to be here an hour ago!" "Oy! Where are your clothes?! You were supposed to get some!" Naruto added. "Sorry, I had a hard time finding what I wanted. So instead I decided to have something tailored for me. It will be done in a week." Dart said in a cheerful smile.

Both Naruto and Sakura sighed. So Sakura went on to begin Dart's lessons. Dart hardly had a hard time. Naruto looked at Sakura and listened. To his surprise he learned a lot more than he had in the academy. He also tried to help out Sakura, whatever chance he could, by demonstrating basic jutsus. Dart was learning quite a lot and was forced by Sakura to take notes. 'Maybe I should have let her go home instead.' Dart thought with regret.

After another hour with a frustrated Dart, Sakura decided she had to go home since it was getting late. Dart just looked at his notes and reviewed. Naruto looked at Sakura walking out the door. Dart looked at Sakura also and noticed she hesitated when opening the door. He whispered to Naruto, "Hey, why don't you walk her home? A girl shouldn't be out this late at a night like this." Naruto nodded and quickly got up. "Oy! Sakura-chan! Let me walk you home! I don't want you to be by yourself."

Sakura was about to argue, but realized she didn't want to have to walk home by herself so she just nodded, but with a small blush. Naruto closed the door behind him and walked with Sakura. As Dart looked at his notes he smiled as he could hear chatter outside the door.

Naruto returned about half an hour later with a disappointed look on his face. Dart noticing this asked, "Hey, what happened?" Naruto sat down on the chair with a sigh and replied, "When her parents opened the door and saw me, they started yelling at me thinking I had kidnapped her or something until Sakura explained the situation. After that they didn't even apologize and took her in."

Naruto had a sad look on his face. Dart felt sorry for him and said, "Hey, don't worry. I don't think Sakura feels the same way as her parents do about you. She looked like she was having a great time here." Naruto's frown disappeared and he smiled, "Yeah you're probably right 'tebayo!"

Naruto went to take a shower and went to sleep. Dart became tired and looked at the table. There were notes everywhere and dishes were still out. Dart sighed. 'Guess this means I have to clean up.' After picking up everything, Dart went to bed.

-----

The next morning Naruto woke up Dart early and they went out for morning exercises. It was vigorous! Naruto had Dart do over fifty laps around the village, two hundred pushups, punching & kicking a stump, and finally spar with Naruto.

'Damn! This is tough!' Dart thought while repeatedly punching a tree stump. Luckily after breakfast, Dart felt refreshed.

Right after breakfast, Naruto took Dart to the training grounds. "Where are we going Naruto-neesan?" Dart asked. Naruto said with a smile, "Sakura-chan is going to teach you about chakra control!" Naruto lead Dart to a small clearing with many trees. "Sakura-chan told me to take you here yesterday." Naruto stated.

"Didn't I already learn about chakra and stuff from yesterday night?" Dart asked with a groan. "That was all from a book! Now let's see you actually try and see if you can do it in real life." Sakura leaped from the trees and landed in front of Dart. "Hey Sakura-chan!" Dart yelled.

Naruto began walking out of the clearing when Dart stopped him. "Where are you going?" "Heh, heh! I already learned this. I'm going to train with Sasuke. See ya!" Then Naruto disappeared into the trees.

'I'm going to kill him!' Dart thought angrily. "Dart-san!" Sakura called. Dart walked over. "Right now you are going to walk up a tree." "Umm, how do I do that?" Dart asked. Dart recalled the time when Kakashi taught this exercise to team seven in the land of waves, but that wasn't enough for Dart to actually learn.

"Well first, you summon your chakra." Sakura made a hand sign and closed her eyes. "Next you focus it to your feet. Then you run where you want to go." Sakura ran at the tree and Dart saw her ascend up to the tallest branch. "Amazing," Dart said in awe.

"Be careful! You have to put in the right amount of chakra into your feet! Otherwise it won't work!" Sakura yelled from the branch. 'Okay. I can do this! I can do this!' Dart made a hand sign and closed his eyes. He pictured his feet. He focused on his feet. 'Alright! Here I go!'

Dart ran at the tree at full force! He lifted his foot upon reaching the tree and stepped on it. Without any thought he raised his second foot hoping he wouldn't fall. He was on the tree! He was still moving. He had to reach where Sakura was to prove himself.

Two feet. 'Coming up.' Three feet. 'Getting better.' Five feet. 'I got this.' Eight feet. 'This is easy!' Fourteen feet. 'Almost halfway.' Twenty feet. 'Hey is Sakura smiling?' Twenty five feet. 'Half way!' Thirty feet. 'Yeah!' Thirty one feet. 'Wait? Why am I slowing down?' Thirty feet. "Ahhh!"

Dart fell down the tree hitting many branches along the way. "Ouch! Oww! Oh god! Ow. Damn!" Boom! Dart landed on the ground on his back. "………Ow."

Sakura leapt down many branches and landed gracefully beside him. "Are you ok Dart-san?" Sakura asked with a worried face. "I'm fine Sakura-chan. I just need to rest." Dart said still lying on the floor. "Ok, but just for a little while! You are doing this until lunch!" Dart groaned.

After many aches and bruises, Dart had lunch at Ichiraku. After that he went back to the training grounds to find Sasuke. Sasuke was going to teach him about the most basic ninjutsus such as Kawarimis, bunshin, henge, and others. It wasn't difficult, but it left him drained. Sasuke and Naruto trained him until six o' clock. Naruto decided to go home as did Sasuke.

Dart remained saying he wanted to train more. When everyone left he decided to test out his new "power". He wanted to recreate the glowing aura effect on his hand. He would keep it a secret though. He once again focused on his hand and then his hand was omitting a blue energy. 'Now what can I do with it? It's not chakra.'

Dart turned his hands "on & off" repeatedly until he learned to do it instinctively for the next hour. "Damn! What is this for?" Dart walked back home in frustration. To his surprise he found Sakura making dinner. 'What the…?'

"Hey Dart-neesan!" Naruto yelled from the kitchen table. Dart noticed the suffix added to his name and smiled. "What's going on?" Dart asked. Sakura called from the kitchen, "Well Dart-san, with you living _here, _you're probably not getting the right diet. So I decided to make some dinner before we study." "That's nice of you Sakura-chan!" Dart said.

As everyone sat around the table. Dart and Naruto anticipated the meal. Fish, fried rice, and some curry. Dart was not used to the curry, but found it delicious. 'Sakura. Cooking in my house! I must be dreaming!' Naruto thought. "Sakura-chan, this is great! You will be a fine wife someday!" Naruto blurted.

"Eh? Baka! Don't get cocky!" Sakura yelled as she smashed her fist on Naruto's head. "Oww! Sakura-chan, I really meant it!" Dart who was enjoying his meal, started laughing. "Heh. You guys are acting like a couple." Dart muttered under his breath very quietly.

Sakura who had her back facing Dart sat still. Her ear twitched catching Dart's words. Her head seemed to turn around demonically with an intimidating face. "What…was…that Dart-san?"

Dart gulped and was in shock, but tried to hide his fear. "I…said nothing. Heh…uh…heh." Dart laughed lightly.

Sakura faced her whole body towards Dart from her seat. In a very low tone but with a deep expression in her voice Sakura spoke, "**You know…I can make your training **_**very difficult**_** tomorrow. Better yet… tonight's study session…can seem to last…**_**forever.**_"

Dart sat frozen in fear. Sakura glared at him for another second and finally broke the mood, "Look's like the tea is ready!" Sakura left the table with a very bright smile. Dart's head crashed towards the table in relief. "She's scary…" he whispered. Naruto's eyes had been wide eyed the whole time. 'Dart-neesan almost got killed, dattebayo.' '**Wow Dart. That woman even scares me.**' Vertilous stated. His comment wasn't reassuring.

----- 

After their study session, Naruto walked Sakura home again. This time when he came back home, he still had his cheerful face. Dart was glad to see this and picked up the mess and went to bed.

The rest of the week maintained its daily routine. Dart would train physically with Naruto and sometimes Sasuke in the mornings, Sakura alone at noon, Sasuke and Naruto with Ninjutsu after noon, and lone training at night before going home.

He had improved dramatically. He was able to go farther in Naruto's taijustu exercises and noticed his body becoming more muscular. Dart was finally able to climb the damn tree! He could even do it walking the very last day. He was still mediocre at some ninjutsus but he was able to do them decently. The day before, Dart henged into Sakura and asked Naruto for a hug. Bring nervous, Naruto had closed his eyes in anticipation to a whack on the head. At this moment, Dart switched himself out with the real Sakura who left Naruto a nice black eye. Dart laughed like hell until Sakura found out and gave him _two_ black eyes.

The last night before the exam Dart made a very important discovery before the exam. Dart was at the training grounds when in frustration he punched the ground while his hands were powered with energy. The ground made a small hole and Dart barely applied any force to his punch. 'What the hell?' Dart looked at the hole he made. 'This can't be right.'

He walked over to a tree and stood before it. With all his might he swung his fist straight into the tree. His fist with a swift movement went straight through the tree and caused it to fall over. 'Whoa! My training with Naruto has made me stronger! I bet I can still grow stronger! But first I need to know what this power does!'

Dart went to another tree the same size as the last one. He naturally made his hand glow and wound up his punch. He sent his powered fist through the air.

Boom!

The whole section of the tree shattered into splinters while sending chunks of the tree many feet back. 'Holy shit!' Dart impressed by his discovery ran away afraid someone might have heard the noise. He wouldn't reveal this to anyone. This was his trump card until the exam. He ran towards Naruto's home at fast pace. Dart had not only grown stronger, but faster.

Dart came through the door noticing the usual chatting Sakura and Naruto. This time Dart made dinner. Sakura had also taught him how to cook some dishes. Recalling a couple days earlier, Sakura specifically said, _"I'm not going to be here everyday! And I don't want you dieing from eating only Ramen everyday!"_

Sakura was successful since Dart already knew how to cook. After dinner Sakura talked with Dart.

"Dart-san, I want you to know something." "Yes Sakura-chan?" Dart replied. "You do know that mostly everything we covered probably won't be on Kakashi's exam? It will probably just be a survival exercise." That week, besides learning about chakra and what to do when caught in genjustsu, later on in the week, Sakura went over with Dart things like Shinobi principles and the history of the village, and how missions were set up and ranks of a ninja. Stuff that was irrelevant. Sakura had convinced Dart to be prepared for anything and she was successful. But why? Was it an excuse just to stay at Naruto's house? She couldn't understand herself.

Dart was meditating on the couch, but didn't stop. "Yeah I know." Sakura stared at Dart. 'He knew?!' she thought in surprise.

"It was pretty obvious that we were going over more content than necessary. However I liked learning about the village and things about a ninja's life. It made me feel more like a part of the village." Dart said without breaking his pose. Sakura stared at him and smiled. "Arigato, Dart-_kun._"

Dart smiled at the added suffix. "Naruto. Please take me home." Sakura said while walking towards the door. Naruto nodded and walked outside with her.

During training, Dart asked what they did on these walks home. Sakura simply said that Naruto was just escorting her and they talked about Dart's progress. When Dart asked Naruto, he didn't say anything at all.

As Dart retired into the couch he thought about this. He did notice something. Every time Naruto arrived home. He was always coming back later than the previous night. Dart smiled.

But right now he had to get some rest. Tomorrow was the big day.

He was going to become a genin!

Chapter End

More Notes: I want to apologize if people think the story is revolving around Dart too much. Right now I need to get him on the team and build his character. After he is accepted on the team, the story will revolve more on Naruto and Sakura.

Also again, someone correct me on the whole** neechan **thing if I'm wrong.

Another thing. I know it sounds pretty lame on how Dart reveals his strength to everyone by picking up a boulder to defend himself faster than the shuriken could hit him. However I was planning on Dart swinging a punch at Sasuke, misses, and manages to hit a tree making a hole. This would have worked perfectly, but it would have made Dart seem aggressive, which he isn't……yet. Feel free to ask any questions or thoughts.

REVIEW PLEASE!


	3. Newest Addition

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any related characters. They belong to Kish'.

Dart Tension is a copyrighted by me though :p

Author's note: Also I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. But I've been reading some fics lately and I'm inspired! Yay Dart's gonna' be a Genin! Now I can also introduce a lot more characters from _Naruto _to see who Dart is (rest of rookie 9) and go ahead with the chuunin exam arc and such. Well anyways I'm debating whether I should move straight on to the chuunin exams or have a couple made up missions of my own with humor and fluff. I'm leaning more on a random mission. Also I apologize if I make the characters seem OOC.

Sakura- Oh I'm so excited! Dart-kun is going to be a genin!

Naruto- I know! Team seven will be better than before!

Dart- Thanks guys for believing in me! Also I can't wait until everyone see's my new threads!

Sasuke- Just make sure not to screw up on missions.

Dart- (puts head down) Sasuke… you don't have to be so…cruel.

Sasuke- It gets the job done though.

Naruto- Sasuke-teme, you don't have to be so hard on Dart.

Dart- Thanks Naruto!

Sasuke- Heh. Dobe.

Naruto- What did you say?!

Sakura- I'm just going to go ahead and start the episode before something starts.

_Screen Fades_

Chapter 3: Who's Dart Tension? "The Newest Addition to Team 7!"

_A Dart is meant to hit its target dead on. In this case, it always does._

Dart woke up. He stared at the ceiling. Naruto wasn't up yet. Dart got up from the couch and went into the kitchen. The clock on the wall said 'Six o' clock'. It was early, but Dart was not tired since he didn't stay up the night before. Also he was nervous and excited at the same time so he didn't feel sleepy at all. Dart started making breakfast when he saw Naruto wake up with a sluggish smile on his face.

"Where Sak'ra-chan go?" Naruto said in a sleepy tone. Dart noticed he was still sleepy and that Naruto probably didn't even know what was going on. "Why yer' makin' eggsss in….the…noon?" Naruto yawned. "Sakura-chan….she didn't give me….a hugsss…" Naruto fell asleep.

Dart grabbed his sandal and threw it accurately at Naruto's face which brought the young ninja to full consciousness. "Wha!!! What happened!" Naruto said while jumping up from his bed, "Now you're awake!" Dart said while laughing.

After Naruto and Dart finished with breakfast, Dart headed over to Naruto's closet before Naruto stopped him. "Wait. You don't need my clothes anymore." "What?" "When I came back last night from dropping off Sakura at home there was a package on the door step."

Naruto pointed at a large brown package on the table. Well more like a small box. Dart had not noticed it before. "It's just clothes." Naruto said while sipping some milk. "I don't get it. Those clothes are all normal. You could have gotten those at any store, why did you need them tailored?" Naruto asked.

Dart went through the contents of the package. He pulled out some jeans, some shorts, and various shirts he had ordered and other articles of clothing he had ordered. In fact he could have brought these all home a week ago, but he didn't feel like taking it home. Naruto was right except for one last detail. "They aren't all tailored. These are just casual clothes when I won't be doing missions and stuff." Dart said while tossing the pile of clothes neatly off to the side from the box.

"_This_…is what I needed to be tailored." Dart said while reaching to the bottom of the package. Naruto looked at the items in Dart's hands. "Whoa…cool."

-----

Sakura and Sasuke waited at the training grounds where Kakashi sensei had told them to be. Sakura sat on the ground with her hands on her face waiting. 'I'm a little worried. Where are Naruto and Dart? They're a later than usual. Dart didn't chicken out, did he?' Sasuke just stood in silence.

Then Sakura noticed the obvious orange in the distance. She got up and smiled. 'I knew they would come!' The Sakura's eyes wandered from Naruto to the figure next to him. It was Dart, but…he was in different clothing than usual. From the distance all she could see was black. Then as Dart and Naruto drew close they waved.

Dart and Naruto finally reached Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke who had his eyes closed for a while opened them and looked at Dart. He made a small grin and said, "About time you got your own clothes. I was worried you would turn into a copy of the dobe." Sakura looked at Dart. "You look…cool Dart-kun."

Dart smiled. He was wearing black pants that were slightly baggy. He was wearing a black vest that went from his waist to his neck which had various pockets in the front, but was thin. Over the vest, was a small, black, leathery, jacket that a shine to it. It was tight enough so that it wouldn't fall off. It had a collar that stuck out protecting his lower portion of his neck from being seen except the front. The zipper area of the jacket was short enough that they would not reach the other sides and had no zipper. The sleeves stopped right before his elbows and were followed by sleeves from a black undershirt. The jacket also didn't go past his waist. At his hands were black, leathery, gloves that showed skin at the fingers.

'Damn. I have to say. I look badass right now.' Dart looked at him self over again. Naruto spoke, "I know Sakura-chan! And he has like five extra suits too!" Dart interrupted, "I'm wearing this for missions and training. So I plan on wearing this a lot."

After that everyone started waiting. After a half hour, Kakashi sensei arrived in a poof of smoke. "Well, it looks like someone came dressed up for today." Dart noticed Kakashi had a smile just from the look of his eyes.

"It's about time! I've been training like crazy! When do we get started?" Dart asked eagerly. "In a moment. First let me explain the rules." Everyone nodded. Kakashi continued, "First, this is your test, so no one shall help you unless I say so. For now, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke will be spectators and will hide so they don't get in the way. After that there's nothing more I can really tell you. The test goes as we go. After upon examination of your skills I will determine if you pass or fail and I will report it to the Hokage, understood?" "Yeah." "Good."

The Kakashi nodded at Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura and they leaped towards the trees hiding in sight. Kakashi spoke again, "Ok then, now that they are gone. We will start, but first let me give you some advice I have given to the others before. If you don't come at me with the intention of killing me then you won't succeed, got it?" Dart nodded. "Ok then. Protect yourself!"

Naruto thought on Kakashi's words remembering the line Kakashi had told them at their genin exam. 'Dart-niisan, be careful.' From the trees Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke looked on. 'I wonder what's going to happen.' Sakura thought.

Kakashi stood still and looked at Dart. Dart stared at Kakashi. 'Ok I have to somehow attack. That's what he wanted me to do right?' Dart put his foot behind the other and made a dash. 'Ok, time to do this!'

Kakashi looked at the dashing Dart. "Taijutsu, as expected." Dart paid no attention to Kakashi's words and ended his run with a punch towards Kakashi. Kakashi saw the punch which was aiming towards his chest and successfully dodged it. Dart didn't stop there and continued his rampage of punches and kicks while Kakashi had no choice but to back up and attempt to deflect the blows.

Dart made a kick towards Kakashi's chest and Kakashi blocked it with his knee. Dart smiled. With still one leg in the air, Dart hopped and let gravity take him to the ground. With his second leg he swept Kakashi's other leg while the other one was still in the air. Kakashi saw this and tried to jump with leg. Dart's foot barely grazed Kakashi's foot, but caused Kakashi to go off balance in the air.

Kakashi started falling to face forwards. Dart turned his reflexes on instinctively and jumped up to his feet and with great force made a punch towards Kakashi's chest. 'Got ya.'

'I have to block that!' Kakashi thought as he could only watch Dart's devastating punch come closing in on his stomach. Kakashi caught the fist with one hand, except the force from the punch sent Kakashi flying backwards about ten feet before landing on the ground with his feet.

Dart smiled again. Normally he would have been tired by now, but his breathing was still calm. To him this was a warm up.

Kakashi looked at his hand. It was heavily sore and looked like it was going to bruise any minute. 'This kid… If I keep this up, I'm going to have to use my Sharingan.'

In the trees Sakura could only be amazed at Dart's talent. 'Wow! He knocked back Kakashi-sensei!' Sakura felt a presence behind her and turned around to find Naruto. "Ahh! Don't do that!" Sakura screamed as she punched Naruto on the head.

"Ouch! Sakura-chan, I only wanted to day hi." Naruto looked at Dart in the distance. "He sure has changed, hasn't he?" "Yeah and in only a week too." Naruto sat next to Sakura and watched.

Kakashi caught his breath and stood still. Dart looked at him and he disappeared. 'What the hell?' His vision was getting wavy, but it wasn't his eyes. Then he noticed he was surrounded by a ring of fire. "What is this?!" He looked towards the sky and he saw a million kunai falling towards him. 'Oh my god! I'm going to die!' Dart thought frantically as the flames drew closer to him. **'Stop complaining! This isn't real!'**

Dart could only wonder at this statement. 'What do you mean?' **'I dwell in your mind. I know what's going on in here. This isn't real. It's an illusion. **Dart smiled. "Gen…"

"Genjutsu." Kakashi stated as he looked at Dart who was on his knees. He walked towards Dart. 'I guess he can't handle it. A lot like Sakura.'

Naruto looked at the motionless Dart. "What's wrong with him?!" Naruto asked worriedly. Sakura looked at Dart. "Genjutsu," she stated. Naruto looked at her. Sakura continued, "I should have tried harder to help him!" she yelled at her self. Naruto could only watch as Sakura mentally beat herself up.

Kakashi looked at Dart. "Well time to wake him up I suppose." Kakashi was about to kneel down when suddenly he stopped. Dart's body rose from his knees and made a leap in the air forming a position for a glorious uppercut. His arm rose from his side at a high speed. At the end of his arm was a clenched, menacing fist flew towards Kakashi's stomach. Kakashi tried to dash, but it was too late and Kakashi flew backwards towards the ground.

Dart let out an enormous grin and tightened his gloves. Kakashi thought to himself, 'So he was able to dispel the Genjutsu and form a counterattack. This kid is smart.'

Dart spoke, "There's no way genjutsu is ever going to work on me!" Kakashi looked Dart. "You know I was only going easy on you, but now I think I might have to get a little more serious. Dart's face turned expressionless. He would have to get ready for anything.

Kakashi spoke again. "Do you believe you can beat me all by yourself?"

Dart smiled. It was probably possible. He just needed to use that technique. It seemed the appropriate time anyway. He just needed an opening.

Kakashi decided to go a little further and threw kunai in Dart's direction. Dart only winced as he was hit by the kunai in the chest. Staring in shock he fell backwards. Then a poof of smoke appeared and Dart turned into a log.

"What? Ninjutsu?" Kakashi muttered. Then he saw 3 Darts running his way, all with a fist raised. 'Bunshin…?' Before they got any closer, Kakashi threw shuriken at them. They went through the illusions and the clones disappeared. "Where…?"

Kakashi heard footsteps. 'From behind!' He turned around and saw the real Dart striding towards him.

"And now for my secret technique!" Dart yelled. At that moment Dart's hands started glowing bright blue. Kakashi observed the energy. 'Its chakra, but in a different form to the point where it's visible. He must be able to manipulate it in someway.'

Dart made a punch towards Kakashi. Kakashi could almost feel the force behind the punch. Kakashi tripped Dart and Dart fell face forward with his fist still formed crashing down into ground. BOOM! The ground made a large crater where Dart's fist had landed.

Everyone was shocked from this except for Dart of course. Kakashi thought to himself. 'That can't hit me or I'm finished. I have to finally stop this.'

Kakashi quickly ran towards the recovering Dart and vaulted over him while putting an arm on Dart's shoulder. Dart could barely react and before he knew it Kakashi slid his arm from his shoulder to Dart's back and knocked him down while holding both his hands behind his back. Kakashi sat on Dart.

"You were a little too confident. I took most of your blows just to see where your level was at." Dart froze. 'What? He was purposely getting hit!'

"At this rate, I don't think you will pass." Dart's face turned to horror. He tried so hard. He wouldn't fail here. Dart began to think. There was something he had to do to pass, but what? Dart began go through his battle in his head, but Kakashi's weight made it harder for him to concentrate.

"_Do you believe you can beat me all by yourself?"_ Kakashi's words echoed through Dart's head.

Dart struck gold, 'Of course!' Dart was pinned, but he had to escape. He quickly scanned the trees surrounding the plain. 'Where are they?' He was about to give up when he spotted an abnormal spot in the trees. An obnoxious orange centered in his eye and he smiled.

He still needed to get out though. He had an idea. Dart focused all his energy to his head. It as risky, but he had to try it. His head started glowing blue.

"What the…?" Kakashi could only mutter as Dart raised his head as high it would go from the ground. Kakashi then noticed the head come slamming down to the ground. In the last second Kakashi leaped away to safety.

Another boom echoed through the forest. Dust was everywhere and Dart made a sprint to the trees. Kakashi stood still waiting. Before he knew it Dart came back with a Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke appeared from the bushes as well somewhat grasping the idea.

"Alright, time for the rest of team 7 to help out!" Naruto yelled as he made a dash towards Kakashi. Dart smiled. "Naruto! That won't be necessary." Dart said. Naruto stopped. "Why?"

Kakashi looked at Dart. 'He's got the idea. He's brighter than he looks.' Kakashi sighed. "Dart-san, you pass." Naruto and Sakura could only stare in confusion. "What do you mean Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Dart-san was asked to fight me under the impression he had to beat me by himself. Only after halfway through the fight did he realize that I could not be beat by himself alone or by any of you for that matter. So he knew his only chance of winning was to team up, thus passing the test by realizing the importance of teamwork." Kakashi looked at Dart. "Did I hit the spot?" Dart smiled. "Yeah. You're right. I knew it would be difficult to beat you by myself after a while."

Naruto scratched his head a little. "So his exam was a lot like ours, except a little different?" he asked. Kakashi looked at Naruto. "Yeah you could say something like that." Kakashi turned around. "I have to go report this. You have the rest of the day off."

Dart looked at the ground and smiled. "YES! I'm a ninja now!" Dart yelled while leaping in the air ten feet.

-----

The new team seven went to a beef barbeque restaurant to celebrate. Dart sat at the end of the table followed by Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. They ordered the meals and waited. "Oh Dart-kun congratulations!" Sakura said happily. Sasuke stayed silent, but Dart knew he was glad for him.

"Yeah Dart-niichan! This will be so much more exciting with you on missions with us!" Naruto added. "Thanks guys, but really it's all thanks to you guys." Dart replied with a smile.

The food appeared and Dart was about to take a bite when, "OH Sasuke-kun!" Everyone turned around to be greeted by Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. The trio sat opposite of them at the same table.

"Oh hey ino-pig." Sakura said with a mad expression. Ino's face angered. "Shut up forehead!" Sakura and Ino's eyes locked in gaze. Dart shrugged when he was about to take a bite of the freshly grilled meat in his chopsticks, when he found a mouth attached to the other end. Choji's mouth to exact.

"What the hell!" Dart yelled in madness while staring at his bare chopsticks. "Sorry I'm hungry!" Choji whined. "Then order your own food!" Dart replied.

Shikamaru looked at Dart. "Hey who is this guy?" he lazily asked Sakura. Sakura replied, "He's Tension Dart. He is new member of team seven and we are taking him out to eat today." Ino smiled, "I guess we will order food too then!"

Dart smiled and stood up. "Hi I'm Tension Dart. Nice to meet you. Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji I presume." Dart kept his smile and pride. "Great, a spiky headed Sasuke clone." Shikamaru stated.

Dart fell down to his seat and sulked with his head to on the table facing down. 'Sasuke clone?' Dart thought to himself depressingly. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had a sweat drop forming on back of their heads.

"Look what we have here!" Everyone turned around to see Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. "Oh hey Kiba!" Naruto yelled. The third team took a seat. "Looks like a rookie nine reunion!" Naruto stated. Kiba smiled but noticed Dart who was looking around. Everyone had a plate and started eating.

Hinata finally spoke and asked, "Wh…Who are y-you?" she said while looking at Dart. Dart stood up again with a prideful smile. "I am Tension Dart! The newest member of team seven! I just became a genin today." Naruto smiled.

"Looks a lot like Sasuke." Kiba said while eating his rice. Dart crashed back down to the table in the previous position he was in sulking. Everyone had a sweat drop except Kiba. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

A little while later, everyone was asking about Dart while team seven told about their past week and Dart's training. "It was really tough, but I became really strong this past week!" Dart said while gulping down some barbequed pork.

Meanwhile Ino was hanging around Sasuke along with Sakura arguing. Everyone ignored them since this was an everyday thing. "Hey Sakura." Ino whispered. "Now that Dart is on your team you can take him since he resembles Sasuke so much." Dart's ear twitched at the last couple words. "While I take the real thing." Ino finished.

Sakura became angry. "Who says I'm going to give up to you because I got a new teammate! Besides why would I want Dart-kun? No offence." Sakura stated while looking at Dart after the last sentence. "None taken." Dart said while calmly sipping his tea. Sakura continued, "So don't get so cocky, Sasuke will be mine! Besides I wouldn't want Dart. He's my friend, I'd rather have Na…" she stopped there. Luckily nobody caught the last part. Except Dart with his keen ears. Naruto happened to be sitting next to Sakura and had a better sense of hearing than Dart and he looked puzzled and excited at the same time. He left it alone though.

Everyone continued talking about their own share of stories along with Dart as he added more of his own while Sakura and Ino kept going at it. Finally Sasuke left for the bathroom. Then he was attacked by a crowd of unnamed fan girls. Dart laughed," Heh. Preteen crushes, always clouding judgment." Dart looked at Sakura and kept pointing at Naruto with his eyes to give hint on what he meant. Dart gave Sakura a devilish grin and Sakura glared back innocently as if he had no idea what he was talking about. Everyone else thought Dart was referencing to the crowd of fan girls.

Ino and Sakura got up and joined the crowd. Everyone else continued with their meals. Naruto and Dart were holding in their laughs at the sight of a very annoyed Sasuke fighting his way through a crowd of girls to the bathroom.

"If we laugh, it will probably be the end of us." Naruto managed to say underneath his breath while holding in his laughter.

"It…will…be you…first….heh" Dart barely said before letting out small snorts. Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, and Choji snorted and continued eating while Hinata watched in curiosity.

Then a man walking towards his table carrying some nice juicy steak along with other side dishes tripped over a fan girl's leg and his plate was sent through the air. Everyone watched in horror as it soared through the air, even Naruto and Dart stopped laughing as they eyed the soaring plate. Then the contents of the plate stopped in midair against Sasuke's chest. Sasuke stared at his shirt and cursed while walking out of the restaurant.

Both Naruto and Dart's faces were puffed up at the sight ready to blow. Naruto was just going to blow up but then he noticed Sakura's face peer from the horrified crowd and he was lost in her eyes. He forgot where he was, but he simply just looked on and his face returned to normal and he was no longer holding in laughter, but let out a huge smile which Sakura couldn't help but smile back. Then he noticed her expression changed to anger as she switched her sights from Naruto to Dart who was completely red and was tearing.

Unfortunately for Dart he didn't have the same feelings for Sakura that Naruto did and was not able to kill his emotions with a simple glance. "Oh….shit. I can't take it." Dart said while holding his chest.

"AHAHAH!!!!HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! Oh my god that was hilarious! Did you see Sasuke's face!!!! So priceless! AHAHAHAH!!!!!!" Dart was just laughing hysterically in his seat tearing. Naruto almost laughed too when he noticed the angry crowd of girls heading their way. Wait he was sitting next to Dart. There was no way he would get involved in this. He noticed everyone was one step ahead of him and moved to a different table. He did the same.

Dart was still laughing when he finally stopped when could not breathe anymore. He took another bite from his dish when he stopped. His joy disappeared and he felt barren. 'Wait. What's this I feel? …..It's almost as strong as murderous intent. But…where…?' Then Dart noticed shadows appear over him. He turned around slowly stunned to find Sasuke's entire "fan club" staring at him. In front were Sakura and Ino cracking their knuckles with colorless eyes. 'Oh shit…' Dart could only think. He looked to his side for help to find he was alone. He then noticed everyone at the next table over with Naruto waving his hand and wearing a "you're gonna get it smile".

"He's a dead man," Shikamaru stated with a sweat drop over his head. Everyone nodded in the same fashion. Dart looked in horror as Sakura asked him, "What was so funny?" Dart gulped. But before he could answer he was off his seat and on the ground being pummeled by at least 20 girls. The rest of the boys of the rookie nine along with Hinata could only watch in horror. Dart's body was not even visible among the crowd, only fists being raised and the motions of kicks towards the ground. Everyone sighed and finished their meals.

For the next _twenty_ minutes Dart was lost in the crowd unable to be seen from outside as everyone had stopped punching him, but were all kicking him on the ground along with stomps and jumps. Finally the crowd dispersed and all the girls disappeared while Sakura and Ino returned to the rest of group and continued eating as if nothing happened and started talking again with smiles. Dart's body lay on the ground while steam rose from his body as if he had just been in an oven. Naruto looked at his new teammate in horror and looked back at Sakura. 'I best stay on Sakura-chan's good side for a while.'

Lying nearly unconscious Dart waited in pain for a while before returning to his seat and lying on the table to rest. Naruto glanced at his beaten teammate next to him and back at Sakura. 'Reminds me of…well me.' Not too long afterwards everyone decided to get going.

"Aww! I wanted to go home with Sasuke-kun!" Sakura pouted. Then Sakura noticed Naruto dragging Dart out the door. She grinned devilishly. "Hey Naruto! Want to walk me home?" Sakura let out puppy dog eyes. She had conquered her fear of the dark long ago, but she did want some company even if it was from Naruto.

Naruto eyed the lifeless figure slumped against his soldier. Then he looked at Sakura. At the first chance he got Naruto dropped Dart on the floor and dashed over to Sakura. "Sure Sakura-chan! I think Dart-niichan can get home by himself anyways." The two teammates looked over to Dart who got up sluggishly.

"Yeah ditch me to go with the girl! Uh huh. Jeez I'm just gonna go to the hospital. Don't worry I'll be ok." Dart stated as he walked out of the restaurant. Sakura and Naruto laughed. As they walked out they noticed Dart stagger very slowly.

"Sakura-chan, did you have to be so rough?" Naruto asked with a concerned face. "I guess not, but it wasn't all me! I only punched him a few times. The rest was from everyone else." Sakura complained.

Then Naruto could hear Dart talking to himself. "Note to self: Never laugh like a maniac at Sasuke in front of crazed, hormone driven, fan girls… especially Sakura-san." The last comment caused Sakura to scream and have Dart running for his life. Sakura stopped and stared at Dart running towards the hospital in a hurry before collapsing from exhaustion.

Naruto grabbed Sakura's shoulders. "Hey let's go." Sakura jumped a little when she felt his hands. She turned around and smiled. They walked down the street towards her house. The walk remained silent. Naruto was fine with it that way. It was obvious there were thoughts on her mind. When they reached Sakura's house, she stopped. "Thanks Naruto!" She closed her eyes and gave him a smile. Then she went in her house closing the door behind her.

Naruto began the walk home while thinking. He loved that he was getting to spend more time with Sakura. If he remembered tomorrow was their first mission in a week. He needed to get some rest. Soon Naruto found himself retiring in his empty apartment. Laughing once more at Dart, Naruto succumbed to sleepiness.

-----

Naruto woke up early and looked around. Dart had not returned yet. Naruto sighed and got a quick breakfast and ran out the door. He went to the bridge where team seven always met. He wasn't surprised to find Sasuke there. Making a wave he leaned against the side.

Naruto looked when he found Sakura walking cheerfully towards the meeting spot. As soon as she spotted Naruto, her expression changed. "How could you have beaten me here?" she asked in a mad tone. Naruto chuckled and replied, "Well I got up early today so I decided to actually get here for a change."

"Oh, ok. I guess Dart-kun is having some positive effects on you!" she said with a funny grin. "Actually, Dart-niichan didn't return yesterday. I think he's still in the hospital." Sakura gave a look of embarrassment. Dart probably would not make it to his first mission and the cause was partly her fault. Sakura leaned against the bridge a few feet away from Naruto's side. They remained silent for a while. Naruto couldn't help, but notice the side glances he was getting from Sakura. The same went for Sakura. It went on for thirty minutes.

"You know when you look at someone constantly, usually you say something." Naruto and Sakura looked at the space on the railing between them. It was now occupied by Dart crouching on his two feet. It was amazing he didn't lose his balance and fall off.

"Wha…What are you talking about?" Naruto said with his face red. Sakura's face was redder. "Yeah Dart-kun, what are you talking about?" Sakura said while trying to maintain her cool.

"Oh come on guys! There would have been a staring contest between you guys if you had actually looked at the same time. Heh heh." Dart said with a grin. Naruto quickly changed the subject. "Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?" Dart looked at Naruto and jumped off giving Sakura and Naruto their space. "Oh yeah. I only needed a good night's sleep and something for the aches and bruises. Besides there's no way I was going to miss my first mission!" Dart's eyes flared. "Also think I just found something interesting." Dart eyed Naruto and Sakura, which both of them noticed. Dart was lying to himself though because this "something interesting" was something he had longed to see before he had actually met them in person. He simply wanted to tease them.

Right on queue, Kakashi appeared in front of them. "Hello team. Today we have a C-rank. We simply have to deliver this package to Petaru town." Kakashi held out a package from his pocket and then put it in a pocket in his vest.

Sasuke quickly asked, "Why is it C-ranked?" Kakashi turned to Sasuke and replied. "Apparently it is an item of importance to the client who needs it to be delivered to an important relative. The client wants it heavily guarded from any bandits or any other trouble." Naruto spoke with a little disappointment in his voice. "Alright fine by me." Then everyone was off.

-----

It had barely been an hour and the mission would take half a day or so. Everyone was jumping through the trees effortlessly, but it was very quiet. Sakura was bored so she leapt beside Sasuke. "Hey Sasuke-kun. I noticed you seemed quiet so I was wondering how you were feeling." Sakura put on a smile hoping he would reply. This could be her chance to finally snag him! "I'm the same as always." He simply stated without looking at her. Sakura listened to his answer feeling disappointed, "Well when we get back, do you want to hang out?" Sasuke didn't answer for a while. Finally he spoke as if he just realized she was still there. "Why don't you concentrate on the mission instead of when we get home?" Sakura felt a little hurt. She slowed her pace and before she knew it she was trailing behind everyone. Sakura leapt in sorrow. 'I guess I do need to focus on the mission more.'

Dart noticed Sakura behind him with her head down and slowed down for her. Naruto didn't notice and pressed on. "What's the matter?" Dart asked. Sakura looked up and saw Dart who had a look of concern. Sakura looked up and put a fake smile on. "It's nothing."

Dart had a good feeling what was up. "It was Sasuke, wasn't it?" She couldn't help, but nod. Dart sighed. He honestly didn't know why she was drawn to him along with the rest of the teenage girl population in Konoha. He decided to probe at this. "What happened?"

Sakura remained silent for a minute, but Dart kept looking at her expecting an answer. She finally gave in. "I just asked him if we could hang out and he refused. Well he didn't even answer." Dart took this in and thought. "So you say you love him right?" Sakura nodded slowly. "Well do you even know what love is?" Sakura was about to speak, but Dart continued. "Or are just saying that liking someone, no, crushing on someone is love?" Sakura thought about this. He was right she did have a crush on Sasuke, but was that love? She thought so for a moment. Then she knew better and decided it wasn't. Then what was she feeling for Sasuke?

"Heh, we are young, so what the hell are we supposed to know about love right?" Dart said with a laugh. Sakura nodded feeling a little better. Sensing confusion in Sakura Dart continued, "Let's say you are married and have a home with your husband making him breakfast. He's smiling and really happy as eats the food giving you hugs and small kisses along the way." Sakura blushed at this scenario, but she let him continue, "Yeah so?" she asked. "Well can you imagine that man in your life being the Sasuke you just talked to just a couple minutes ago?"

Sakura thought about this. The scenario Dart played in her mind was about exactly what she wanted her future to be like. But Sasuke smiling and laughing? Giving hugs of comfort? It didn't seem possible. But that was the future, things can change. As if reading her mind Dart said, "People don't change much especially if someone tries to do it for them." Sakura was shocked at his statement mainly because of the timing of it. It was kind of scary. Dart quickly added, "Also is there someone you can imagine in that spot?" Then Dart sped up leaving Sakura by herself. Sakura quickly pondered through her thoughts thinking of such a person. Someone who made her laugh, smile and feel better. When she thought about who would make her smile a lot, Naruto's face popped. He was annoying, but he always brought comfort. His behavior was also becoming better ever since Dart appeared, so that was good. She would be thinking about this for a while. 'I never knew Dart-kun was so wise.

-----

After completing the mission and everyone had returned to Konoha, team seven split up and went home. Naruto and Dart walked home while sharing laughs. Dart remembered his conversation with Sakura and felt like he accomplished something. Feeling bored he decided he was not done probing. "Hey Naruto-niichan."

Naruto looked at Dart and replied, "Yeah?" "What do you think of Sakura-san?" Naruto looked puzzled at this question and at the same time embarrassed. "Well I think she's smart, she's kind of caring at times even though she hits me, she's really good at cooking, she's kind of strong even though she doesn't realize it, she's an awesome ninja, and she's so beautiful!" Dart had to agree with all of these. "Heh heh, I think you love her!" Dart suddenly felt guilt because he remembered his conversation with Sakura about love. "Well…I, um… I guess…"

"Well you care for her right?" Again Dart didn't need to ask these questions for he knew most of the answers, but where's the fun in that? "Of course I do! I'd even protect her with my life!" Naruto flared.

"Ok! Easy! You don't have to wake up the whole damn village." Dart said with his hands in front of him. "Hell, Sakura might have heard you herself. Which there's nothing wrong with that, but you know, she's going through some stuff right now, I can tell." Naruto looked down. "Yeah. She's in love with Sasuke." "Hey! Don't be like that! I was talking about something else! Besides, she doesn't love him, she just likes him, like a crush. Don't worry everyone around this age crushes on people and think its love, it's like a teen thing." Darts widened for he just realized Naruto fit in that category too. He quickly added, "Not that you are like that. I can tell you do love Sakura-san."

Naruto smiled. "Thanks Dart-niichan, you're the greatest!" "Heh. Tell me about it." The teammates slung their arms over each other's shoulders in a brotherly way as they walked laughing.

Unbeknownst to Naruto and Dart, a certain pink haired kunoichi was lost in train of thought while wandering around the village when she stumbled upon them at the beginning of their conversation. She hid in the shadows until they left

"Naruto loves me?" Sakura asked herself puzzled. She felt really good then like she was the most important person in the world. Then she stopped. Wait, did she just really think that? This was Naruto she was talking about. Then again Naruto was her friend and she kind of cared for him. Ok maybe she cared for him a little more, but still.

Having found this new information, Sakura walked home and decided to sleep in her nice comfy bed where she found no worry. She would find the answers if she just slept on it.

-----

A week passed and everything was good for team seven. Dart had gone through more missions (which by the way were more exciting than his first.) Dart noticed that Sakura still pestered Sasuke which didn't surprise him at all because her attempts to strike a conversation were only friendly and nothing more. It was if though she was trying to see if she could feel something. However her attempts were unsuccessful and the conversations never lasted more than a couple sentences.

Naruto was much more open to Dart now and their bond became even more inseparable. Sakura called them the troublesome duo. Naruto would also find himself admiring Sakura during the day and when she walked away disappointed from Sasuke after her "conversations" he would feel sadness and anger.

"What's wrong Sakura-chan?" he would ask her. Sakura was dazed and didn't notice him for a while as she looked up to the sky. "Hmm?" she asked. Naruto had more worry on his face, but he tried to hide it. "Sakura-chan is something wrong?" he asked again. She looked at him and looked into his bright, oceanic, blue eyes. Those made want to just melt. She looked deeper; in fact she was an inch away from his face. Then he felt her forehead with his hand. "You don't have a fever." His hand felt so soothing. If only it would slide down towards the side of her face on her cheek.

"**That boy needs to take me to his house tonight!"**

"_What! How could you think that?!"_

"**You were just admiring his eyes. I think you love him."**

"_I do not! He's my friend. I'm just touched that he cares about me. Besides, Dart-kun lives with him, so I couldn't just go over"_

Then Sakura started fantasizing what Naruto and Dart could be doing all by them selves at their apartment. She quickly put this thought away.

"**Riiiight… You know he's hot! I mean he has that fine ass!"**

Sakura blushed at this statement.

"_Well he is good looking…but I love Sasuke!"_

"**Sasuke? He doesn't give a damn about you! Besides remember what that Dart kid said about him? People barely change!"**

"_Well I can change him! I can wait!"_

"**But what about Naruto? How long has he waited for you? He doesn't need to be changed.**

"_I…I don't know."_

"**You sure are stubborn, but you can't fool me. Knowing you, you're going to think on it." **

Sakura was brought to the real world when she realized Naruto had a face of fear. How long had she spaced out? "Sakura-chan! Are you ok? I've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes now!" Sakura started blushing.

"I'm ok Naruto. I was just thinking. I'm alright." Sakura said with a reassuring smile. Naruto kept his look of concern until he lowered it. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan. I was just a little worried, that's all." After this statement Sakura hugged Naruto. It was a nice friendly hug. Naruto was a little shocked, but he hugged back.

'Sakura feels so nice. I wish this moment would last forever!' Naruto thought happily. Sakura felt like she was going to just melt in his arms. She wanted to be stuck there. Just to be held forever. The hug wasn't as long as both wanted to be.

As they broke off the hug, Dart came into view. Dart noticed and walked by because he did not want to disturb the "couple's" moment. Dart laughed at what he just thought. Naruto saw Dart and called out, "Oy! Dart-niichan!" Dart smiled and walked over.

Dart looked at the two. He just saw the two of them hugging. Well it wouldn't hurt to ask. "You guys hook up yet?"

Dart was running for his life. He was scared shitless and running. Sakura was trailing behind screaming, "What the hell do you mean yet! What were you expecting us to or something?!" Naruto was running from behind trying to catch up. In all honesty Sakura was a little flattered that Dart had such a thing, but at the same time she was still emotionally confused at that time that for him to assume what she was going to before she did made her quite angry.

Dart ran as hard as he could. He looked back for a second and turned the corner and… BAM! He tackled someone hard. Dart landed face first on the ground. His victim flung backwards. Sakura and Naruto stopped. Dart got up and looked at the person he knocked over. Dart's mind was going crazy right now. He was scared, surprised, and glad. He was glad to know _it_ was beginning and that the person he just tackled seemed totally out of it, he was surprised that he had just knocked over someone who came out of nowhere, and he was kind of scared that the person he knocked over was Kankurou of the sand.

Kankurou got up really angry. He looked as if though he was going to explode. "What the hell! Watch where you are going!" Kankurou yelled. Dart almost wanted to snicker. "It looks like I'm going to have to teach you some manners!" Kankurou said as he reached for the wrapped object on his back. Dart remained calm. "It's not worth it Kankurou." Temari, his sister, stated.

Then out of no where Sasuke appeared. "Is there some kind of trouble?" he asked calmly. Dart and Naruto sighed. He always had to come in and seem like the "hero". 'I can take care of myself. Jeez!' Dart thought to himself.

"Kankurou, stop." Everyone turned to the source of the voice. There underneath a branch, stood a boy with a gourd on his back. Gaara of the desert.

After a small conflict, Gaara left with his siblings after asking Sasuke for his name.

'I keep my cool in front of Mr. Ihaveastickupmyassandhavetocarrythisheavypuppetalldayguy bracing for a fight and Sasuke comes in, says one sentence and he gets his name acknowledged. Wow' Dart thought. The next second Kakashi appeared.

"Hey team. There's something important I have to tell you." Dart smiled. He knew what was to come. "The chuunin exams are coming up."

Chapter end

Author's Note- Hey. I want to apologize for not updating in a while. I had a lot of crap going on and was heavily distracted by a bunch of other things. My birthday, girls, videogames, girls, animation, and girls. However I became inspired again once I read a bunch of other fics. Perfect fuel. Also I got some pretty good ideas for the future. Finally the chuunin exams! I finally feel that the story is getting somewhere and I'm one step closer to some all natural Naruto and Sakura make out action! I'll try to update as soon as possible!


	4. Inevitability

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other related characters. Dart Tension is mine though!

Author's Note: 4 is my lucky number. So maybe it applies for this chapter too. While typing the other chapters I had to keep reminding myself that it was before the chuunin exams and Sakura still had long hair. My mind kept thinking she didn't though. For some reason when I see a long haired Sakura, she's a naïve preteen "in love" with Sasuke. When I see a short haired Sakura, she's a responsible young woman that loves Naruto. So it weirded me out that Sakura had feelings for Naruto in my previous chapters while she still had long hair. Felt like sharing that. Hopefully this chapter is as long as my last one, maybe longer. I want to reach 10,000 words before or after the preliminaries. Hopefully before.

This might be hard for some people because it's pretty obvious what's going to happen next, but the chuunin exams is something that has to be done for the story to progress and can't imagine them occurring in any different scenario. In the future I will be copying less and less.

Also about action scenes. Even though they are the same situations from the comic and anime I can't guarantee the scene will be exactly the same because that's too much detail for me to remember. I can promise that the significant parts of the battle, even attacks will still be there. (Example: Sasuke doing a pile driver on Orochimaru)

The first and second exams are really actiony and stuff, so it will be hard to make it fluffy and stuff. (Especially the forest of death) But I will try! Man, long Author's note!

Naruto- I love you Sakura.

Sakura- Oh! I love you too Naruto.

Dart- Can you guys get a room?

Sakura- We would if you got to that part of the story!

Naruto- She is right. You have been slacking off lately.

Dart- Hey! I've been distracted by my birthday and some cool videogames I got.

Naruto- Whatever.

Dart- ……..And some nice, hot, juicy fics. 

Sakura- Eww! You perv! …….(Were they about me and Naruto?) (blushes)

Dart-…..Maybe. You know, this is behind the scene. So you could do whatever you want, there's nothing stopping you.

Naruto- Really?

Dart- Yeah, so you can make out and stuff……As long as I watch….

Sakura- Pervert!!!!! (punches Dart through a wall)

Dart- I'm sorry!!!! I have been tainted!!!!!!

_Screen Fades_

Chapter 4: Inevitability

Kakashi had given team seven one week to prepare for the chuunin exams. Everyone had agreed. From then on though, everyone still met for lunch to discuss about the exams. However there was always one person gone.

Dart.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke would meet at the training grounds or at a local restaurant. However Dart was never around. The first thing he said after Kakashi had spread the news of the upcoming exams, Dart had said, "I need to prepare." Ever since then, everyone barely got a glimpse of him. Naruto would only catch him leaving the apartment in the mornings and would never see him again until the next morning.

"Naruto have you seen Dart yet?" Sakura asked while sitting on a bench. It was the day before the exam. They had decided to meet briefly at the park this time. "No I haven't Sakura-chan. I think he just trains all day. I'm a little surprised. I'm training too, but I think he's over doing it." Naruto replied while standing in the grass.

"At this rate, he'll exhaust himself before the exams even start." Sasuke added from the middle of the walkway. Everyone remained silent. "Well I think it's time for me to get going." Sasuke said before leaving. "I expect you guys to be there tomorrow."

Sakura gulped. She wasn't sure if she even wanted to take the exams. She had heard of the risk involved. Naruto saw the look of uncertainty on her face. "Don't worry Sakura-chan! Whatever it may be, I respect your decision." Naruto said before walking off.

'He's so sweet.' Sakura thought while blushing. She walked back home while her thoughts were stuck on the chuunin exams…and also on Naruto of course.

"Kakashi, what are your recommendations?"

Kakashi was in a room full of Jounin and Chuunin while standing before the Hokage and representatives from the council. Standing next to him was Kurenai and Asuma. "I, Hatake Kakashi, recommend all of my squad members. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and…" "The dimensional traveler?"

Kakashi's eyebrow rose. One of the council representatives spoke out loud. "Yes, Tension Dart. I recommend him too." "He has just been promoted to genin just a week ago, correct?" one of the other reps asked. "Yes, but I assure you he is capable of handling this along with the rest of the squad." Kakashi stated. "Is it wise to allow a stranger, not even from this world, to be allowed the chance to rise in our ranks? We don't know his intentions!" another council representative stated.

"I assure you, the boy is harmless. As strong as he may be, his intentions are pure. He desires to be a part of the village, he has no where else to go and he has already made friends." Kakashi defended. "That's…!"

"Councilman Surigi! That is enough! There are more pressing matters at hand. Like the upcoming chuunin exam." The Hokage intervened. "Kakashi, we accept your recommendations. Also if it pleases the council, you do have the boy under a watchful eye, correct?" "Yes along with Uzumaki Naruto. Since I have been required to look after him also," Kakashi shot a glare at councilman Surigi, "They are quite close, so it makes it much easier."

"Hold on here. Kakashi, are you sure these students are ready? It has not even been a year." Kakashi turned to see Iruka standing there. "Iruka, I'm sure you are concerned for their well being. But they are my students, not yours anymore. I know what they are capable of." Kakashi responded. "I've known them the longest. They're not ready! Please lord Hokage, I beg you." Iruka pleaded. The Hokage thought for a minute. "Iruka, if you believe they are not ready. Then I say that a test should be conducted to see if they are indeed capable of taking on the chuunin exams. You will test them of course."

Kakashi added one last comment, "I must say though, Tension Dart must be left out of this. I know what he is capable of and I am certain he is ready."

The Hokage looked at Kakashi and nodded. "Very well. Iruka, please respect Kakashi's wishes"

Iruka nodded. Kakashi also nodded in agreement. "Very well then. You are all dismissed!" All the ninja scattered in puffs of smoke.

_The next day…_

Naruto walked towards the building where the exams would take place. He was quite excited. It had discouraged him however that the day before a mysterious ninja had attacked him and Konohamaru's friends while kidnapping Moegi. Naruto had defeated the ninja of course, but it didn't bother him and thought he wouldn't be coming back for a while. Unknown to Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke had encountered the same ninja as well. Unknown to all of them, this ninja was in fact Iruka in disguise.

The mysterious ninja disappeared from his thoughts as he walked into the building. 'Dart-niichan still hasn't returned.' Naruto frowned. 'At least he left me a note.' Naruto recalled the note left behind at the door of the apartment.

"_Yo Naruto-niichan, don't worry if you don't see me this morning, I'll meet you and everyone else at the building where the chuunin exam takes place._

_Your Number One Spiky Headed ninja,_

_Tension Dart"_

Naruto lifted his frown and made a small grin. There was no way Dart would give up so easily. Naruto went to the stairs and immediately found Sakura and Sasuke. "Hi Sakura-chan!" Naruto stated as he walked towards them. "Hey Dobe, where's Dart?" Sasuke quickly asked.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "He said he would meet us here so in the mean time, why don't we head up?" Naruto motioned to the stairs. Everyone nodded and walked up to the second floor where the exam was to take place in room _3B. _Upon climbing the stairs to the desired floor team seven walked down the corridor. However they found a conflict happening outside the room of where the exam would be taking place.

There were two genin outside of the room blocking access to anyone who tried to get in. In front was a boy in a very odd green jumpsuit with bobbed black hair and a girl in green pants and a pink shirt with ball sized buns on the side of her head. "Please let us in! We have to take the exams." The girl pleaded.

"If you can't even get past us, then what makes you think you can pass the chuunin exams?" one of the opposing genin stated with a snicker. "What's going on?" Sasuke asked as he walked onto the scene. "Why won't you let any of these people through?" The genin guarding the door kept his stance. "Because you are all too weak to take the exam." All of a sudden the other genin started charging Sasuke. Sasuke did not back down however, and charged too. A strange thing was that everyone sensed movement from the kid in the green jumpsuit. Before anyone suspected anything, the ninja was in between Sasuke and the stubborn genin. 'He's fast.' Sasuke thought while smirking. The ninja spoke, "The chuunin exams have not started, so I think it is wise to save the fighting for later." The other genin however was not done and broke off with Sasuke and the fast ninja. He dashed back with a forward kick and Sasuke was going to counter with a punch of his own. The third green suited ninja sighed as he was going to counter with a low sweep. Then when all the blows collided, everyone was shocked to see the attacks all land on a single target. The new ninja caught Sasuke's punch and the foot of the other ninja. The green suited ninja was on the floor ready to do his own version of a leg sweep, but his leg was stopped by a firm foot stomped on his leg. The ninja in black looked up from the ground revealing his face. "Yo."

Naruto looked at the ninja with incredible speed and grinned. "What took you so long Dart-niichan? You've been gone for a week now." Dart pushed everyone back several feet and walked to Naruto. "I was training like crazy! You can never be too prepared for something like this." Sakura looked at Dart and the three ninja he just sent flying back. "I can see there have been some results."

Dart looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, there sure have." Dart looked back to the ninjas he had just thrown back. Sasuke wasn't thrown very hard and was still on his feet. "Hmph. Its not like this matters. This isn't even the right room. Right Sakura?" Sasuke turned to Sakura who was confused. "Uh yeah. This is way too simple. We're only on the second floor." Then the room number above the door magically turned from "3B" to "2B".

The two genin who had not permitted anyone to pass quickly smirked. "Well I guess you caught us." Then they disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura smiled as did everyone on team 7. Suddenly they were confronted by the ninja in the green jumpsuit along with his team. "My name is Rock Lee!"he stated. "I notice you are an Uchiha. I hope to meet you in combat." Lee turned towards Dart. "You are a fast one, I must admit. I do not know of your origin, but I am curious to meet you in battle!" Lee said. Dart grinned. "I am Tension Dart. I am also eager to fight you!" Lee made a smile and replied, "I look forward to it!"

Then Lee turned to Sakura and said, "You are a beautiful and smart! I will protect you with my life! Please be my girlfriend!" Sakura looked at him in horror and disgust. "Eww! No way! Your hair looks goofy and creepy, that suit doesn't look good at all, and those huge eyebrows are way too creepy!" Sakura said as she stated a long list of reasons why she wouldn't date the speedy ninja. Lee had a disappointed expression and leaned against the wall. Then Lee's teammate, Neji, came up and spoke to Sasuke. "You! What is your name?" "It's rude to ask for someone's name before addressing your own." Sasuke replied. "What!?" Neji said in anger. Then Naruto interrupted, "Hey, don't you want to know my name?!" Neji walked away and said, "I don't care." Then Naruto found himself along side with Lee sulking in the same position. "Ha! Man those two need to calm down! It's not anything too serious." Dart said in a serious tone. Sakura giggled a little bit. Then Ten-Ten, the girl with the buns on her head, came in and asked, "Are you a brother of Sasuke? You guys look a lot alike." Dart immediately found himself along side with Naruto and Lee. "Creepy?" Lee said. "No one wants to know my name." Naruto said. "A brother of Sasuke's?" Dart also added. Sakura's giggle turned into silence as a sweat drop fell down on the back of her head. 'He is such a hypocrite' Sakura thought.

After collecting their cool, Dart and Naruto walked back to Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke was the first to talk. "What have you been doing all this time?" Dart gave him a smile and replied, "Training!" Sasuke sighed. Naruto spoke, "Don't we still have to head to the third floor?" Everyone nodded. Team seven walked up the stairs and entered the hallway on the third floor. As they walked through the hallway, it ended at a large room. They were on a balcony overlooking the room. It was large and spacious which meant it was probably used for training. Dart and Naruto walked ahead with Sakura behind. Last was Sasuke who took his time. However they would not leave as quickly as they intended to.

"Stop!" Everyone turned around to see Rock Lee at the top of the balcony. Sasuke made a smirk, Dart grinned, Naruto and Sakura made a look of surprise. Rock Lee jumped over the railing and landed on two feet with on hand behind him with his other hand in front facing upwards. "Uchiha Sasuke, I demand a challenge. I want to see how I am against the leaf's strongest genin." Sasuke was about to speak when Naruto took a few steps forward. "I'll take him Sasuke." Naruto said. Sasuke smirked and said. "Fine."

Naruto charged ahead despite Sakura and Dart's protests. Lee stood his ground. "I do not want to fight you, but if you insist. Naruto made a dashing punch for Lee's face, but Lee stood still. Before Naruto's hand got any closer, Lee quickly slapped it away with his hand towards the floor. Unfortunately Naruto was in the air, thus sending his whole body in a different direction.

Naruto quickly recovered and with a grin tried to balance himself on the ground with his hand. Naruto made a quick handstand and without losing any momentum, set up a kick towards Lee. 'I'm not done yet!' Naruto thought. However Lee was not done either. Lee made the same leg sweep motion he did back on the second floor. Lee crouched down and with precision and speed swiped Naruto's hand causing him to fall. Naruto's makeshift handstand failed causing Naruto to spin out of control and slide into the wall.

Lee looked back at Sasuke. "I came to challenge you!" Lee kept his confident, yet serious face. Sasuke sighed. "Fine." Sasuke got into a fighting stance and ran at Lee. Lee stood still trying to anticipate his opponent's moves. Sasuke ran confidently and set up a punch for Lee. However Lee caught the fist without flinching. Sasuke continued to attack. Punch after punch, kick after kick; Lee would catch them all not allowing a single hit through. Sasuke was getting annoyed and finally decided to do another kick. He swiftly thrust his left leg forward without losing any balance. The leg went for Lee's right side on the abdomen.

Lee moved his upper torso slightly sideways so the kick barely grazed him. Lee raised his right leg and straightened it aiming directly at Sasuke's face. The foot extended and connected with Sasuke's right cheek. Sasuke's face absorbed the blow and Sasuke's whole body flew backwards.

Sasuke landed on his feet with out any stumble. Lee kept his leg in the air for a few seconds before putting it back down slowly. Sasuke wiped his cheek with his shoulder along with the small amount of blood trickling from his lips. 'I can't land a single hit! He has to be using some special jutsu.' Sasuke stopped rubbing his face. "I guess I have to use that then." Sasuke said. Sakura gasped a little.

'Is he talking about? Could he mean?' Sakura thought as she stared at her friend admiringly. Dart had his arms folded and let out a small snicker. 'He's so full of himself.' Dart thought before letting out a yawn. Sasuke had his eyes closed and his face was full of concentration. 'Whatever trick he's using. I'll see it now!' Sasuke opened his eyes widely revealing black spheres embedded in crimson. The Sharingan.

Sakura gasped louder this time. The only one who could hear was Dart. 'The sharingan! Sasuke's so cool! He'll win now!'

Dart looked at his awestricken teammate and let out a 'humph'. Sakura let out a glare. Dart made a small smirk and said, "Just watch." Sakura quickly became confused and turned her attention back on Sasuke.

Sasuke charged Lee with confidence. Lee noticed the change in his opponent's eyes, but made no change in expression. Sasuke smirked and brought his arm closer to him to begin a punch. Then as he got within arm's reach of Lee, Sasuke quickly let his arm fly. Sasuke's arm however stopped midway when Lee vanished. 'What the?' Then Sasuke felt pain in his chest. Before he knew it he was drifting in the air. Being one foot off the ground and still ascending Sasuke noticed Lee with his leg sticking out upwards below him. Lee had kicked him in the air and Sasuke never saw his movements. Lee vanished again and miraculously appeared behind Sasuke.

"How did you?" Sasuke could only say. Lee said in his ear, "My technique is not ninjutsu or genjutsu. My moves are all Taijutsu. It is true the Sharingan can see any move very quickly allowing the user to stop it or even copy it even before the enemy knows what he is going to do. However if your body cannot keep up with your eyes then you cannot stop something very fast even when you see it coming. You are born being a genius and do not know the meaning of hard work! I have to practice every single day to perfect my moves while you are simply born gifted. Now I will show you the results of my hard work!"

Lee started to unwrap his bandages and Sasuke was unaware of what was going on. However Lee never finished. A kunai flew through the air and intercepted one of the bandages and impaling it on the wall. Lee stopped midair and fell to the ground once the length of his bandages wouldn't let him.

Sakura gasped as she saw Sasuke fly towards the ground. She lifted he foot off the floor to begin a sprint but a hand touched her shoulder and stopped her. She turned around and saw Dart. Dart sighed. "I'll get him." Then Dart disappeared in front of Sakura's eyes. Sakura turned around and looked at Sasuke again. He was falling faster towards the ground and she thought he would be injured badly.

Then Dart appeared again right on the spot where Sasuke was about to land. He yawned and with a lazy face stuck his palm high in the air and caught Sasuke on his back. Sasuke lay limp on Dart's palm in the air for a few seconds. Dart held Sasuke's body high above his ahead with a slightly annoyed look before setting him on the ground. Naruto had finally recovered and joined Dart's side making a grin at Sasuke. Dart looked at the person responsible for the intrusion of the fight.

A tortoise stood on all fours at the opposite side of the room. In front was a very desperate Lee apologizing nonstop. Naruto stood dumbstruck. Team seven looked on in confusion except for Dart who had a smirk and a "know-it-all" face put on.

Then a poof of smoke appeared on top of the turtle. Everyone looked at the small smoky explosion. A man appeared out of the smoke in a very similar outfit of Lee's with his hand forming a "thumbs up".

"Hey everybody! What's shaking!" was the statement made by the crazy jounin. "EH!!!!!!" was team's sevens reply. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's faces all had a shocked expression filled with surprise and a small amount of horror. Dart's face quickly changed and his eyebrows twitched. 'I knew what to expect…but meeting Gai-sensei in real life is….still shocking.'

"That guy is weird looking!" Naruto yelled. Lee's ears perked up instantly at this comment. "Gai-sensei is not weird looking! He is one of the most respected, strongest, ninja in the village!" Lee began yelling off more defending statements when Gai-sensei signaled him to stop. "It's alright Lee. Let it go." Lee made a salute to his sensei. "Right!"

Gai started talking to his student about his punishment. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were lost in a daze. Dart quickly got their attention by making a clap above their heads. "Oy! Let's go! I don't want to be late for the exams!!!"

Everyone nodded in agreement and walked off. Sasuke had a face of anger on his face. Everyone noticed this, but refused to talk to him. Sasuke suddenly stopped and grumbled.

"Sasuke…" Sakura said with a look of concern. Sasuke looked down at the ground with out showing his face, Dart looked at Sasuke and made a small chuckle. "What? Are you still pissed that he beat you? Big deal!"

"Just…!" Sasuke said loudly, but Naruto interfered also. "Ha! Lee sure kicked your ass!" Naruto said. Dart gave a look to Naruto. "He kicked your ass too, if I recall!" Dart said.

"Just shut up!" Sasuke yelled. Everyone became quiet. Naruto looked at the ground, but made another comment. "Did you see his hands? Lee's I mean. They were all scarred and stuff. He certainly trains more than you." Sasuke stood still for a moment. Then he turned his head up and faced the group. He had his smirk and said, "The chuunin exams huh? Well, I can't wait to see what's next." Everyone smiled at his comment happy to see him back in his regular mood. They started walking off again.

"Heh heh. He's calm down now. Thanks to Naruto I guess." Dart whispered to himself. "Wait a minute! What the hell was with the sudden attitude change?! That was a little too sudden! Crying one second, all content the next! I bet he's just bottling it up!"

"Did you say something Dart?" Sasuke said from the front of the group.

"Nope!"

Naruto and the others found themselves in front of the room where the chuunin exams would take place. However there was a certain Jounin standing in front of the double doors leading to the exam. A certain grey haired ninja with a certain orange, perverted book.

"Kakashi sensei?" Naruto asked as he spotted the older Jounin. Kakashi changed his gaze from the inside of the book to his group of students walking over to him. He stood straight and addressed his students.

"Well I see you are all here." Kakashi said. "Well then, that means I won't have to stop you. You can go on ahead." Kakashi's statement earned a few confused looks.

"What do you mean Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. Kakashi turned to her. "Well Sakura, the chuunin exams need to be taken as a team and nothing less. If one of you had not decided to show, then I wouldn't be permitted to let you in."

Everyone's face was now in shock. Kakashi's expression remained the same. Kakashi let out a sigh and said, "But you guys are all here. So you can go." Kakashi walked towards the wall and leaned on it and began reading again.

Naruto made a large grin and walked towards the door. "Don't worry Kakashi sensei! We'll make you proud!" Naruto kept his grin on and was rubbing his nose. Dart walked up to Naruto and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Hell yeah we will! Let's do this!" Dart turned back to receive smiles from Sakura and Sasuke. Dart turned back to Naruto and nodded. Sakura and Sasuke stepped towards the door. Naruto put his hands on the door and pushed through.

Team seven found a somewhat disturbing sight. It was a large classroom and it was filled completely with people. As soon as they stepped in the room, everyone had directed their attention towards team seven. Dart surveyed the room and found some intimidating stares, but he simply chuckled. 'I'd probably be a little more scared if these guys weren't all genin.'

Sakura on the other hand, found the glares from the older participants quite horrifying. Sakura brought her hands closer to her chest as if to protect her self. Then she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey! What do you know! It's team seven!" Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Dart turned their attention to the voice. They found Kiba followed by Hinata and Shino. "Kiba. It's been a while." Sasuke said. Sakura smiled and ignored all the other chuunin participants. "Hey guys! What's up!" Sakura said.

Naruto and Dart walked over and smiled. Kiba noticing Naruto made a wave and replied, "Oh nothing. We've just been training like crazy! My team is sure to get a promotion!" Sasuke smirked. "Don't be cocky. We've been training as well."

By this time, Shikamaru's team had joined up. "What's going on guys?" Shikamaru asked lazily. Dart became the one to answer his greeting. "Hey guys. We were just catching up. This is awesome. It's like a rookie 9 reunion."

Kiba spoke, "Well I know we've been training. What about you guys?" Kiba pointed a finger at team seven. Naruto spoke out of pride, "We've been training like hell! You think you're so bad!? You don't even know the meaning of training!" Naruto pointed back at Kiba. Dart intervened, "Naruto, As much as I agree with you right now, I have to say, if this was a contest on who's trained the most, I would kick your ass in that department!"

Dart folded his arms and closed his eyes with a grin. "Well at least I had room for breaks this entire week!" Naruto replied before folding his arms and looking away. Sakura decided to side with Naruto and smiled. "You know Dart. We still have yet to see the results of your "non-stop" training." Sakura said whiled using her fingers as quotations at "non-stop". Sakura stood by Naruto and gave Dart the peace sign while sticking her tongue out.

Dart simply shrugged it off. "Heh just wait. You'll see." Everyone looked at Dart and Sakura questioningly. "What are you talking about Sakura?" Ino asked.

Sakura kept her smile and looked towards Ino and the others. "Mr. Porcupine here," Sakura points at Dart, "has been gone for a week straight, supposedly training."

"And I was training! You guys just need patience! Heh, you'll see." Dart said with a grin. With that everyone was quiet. Then an unknown presence greeted them.

"Hello. You must be the rookies of this year." Everyone turned to the origin of the voice. There was a young man with grey hair and glasses in a purple uniform with a grey shirt underneath. "Who are you?" Naruto asked. The man walked forward.

"You can call me Kabuto. I'm a veteran of the chuunin exam, I guess you could say." "A veteran?" Sakura questioned. "Yeah. I've taken this exam six times. This will be my seventh." Everyone just stared. By the sounds of it, this exam wasn't easy. "At least being here for a while has its advantages. I pretty know a lot of information." Kabuto paused, "If you want, I could even give you details on a certain someone."

This immediately caught the attention of Sasuke. Naruto looked back and forth as Sasuke immediately began talking to him. 'Well I'm not sure what's going on! But I'll just pretend to.' Dart started laughing as soon as he saw Naruto's confused face quickly turn into a serious one.

After Kabuto revealed some information to Sasuke about a certain noble, green, beast and a certain mysterious sand ninja; Kabuto stood back up. "Well I look forward to adding information about you as well. I mean you certainly have drawn attention to yourself already." Everyone immediately understood what he was talking about and looked towards the center of the room. The rookie nine had the attention of the entire mass of genin on them.

Sakura immediately started to go in a panic. 'Everyone is looking! It's so…scary.' Sakura then noticed Naruto standing in front of her. He was looking down and trembling.

'He must be a little nervous. Right now he's making me a little nervous. I mean he's usually so stubborn. For him to break down right now, poor guy. I should cheer him up!' Sakura thought cheerfully. Naruto continued shaking and didn't show his face.

"Hey Naruto. It's okay it's…" Sakura stopped. Naruto pointed his finger to everyone. "OK! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm gonna kick all your asses in this exam dattebayo!"

Naruto earned several looks from all the other genin as well as the Rookie nine. Naruto put his hand back down and crossed his arms with a content grip. Sakura's sympathetic emotions immediately vanished. Bonk! "Baka! Don't do that! Do you want to get us killed!" Sakura put Naruto in a head lock. She started to choke him and Naruto became helpless.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan!" Naruto managed to couch out. Sakura would give no mercy! Sakura held her death grip.

'_Baka! Never thinking about anyone else!'_

'_**Squeeze harder! He should suffer!'**_

'_He should huh? I'm gonna….What the hell?!'_

Sakura averted her eyes from Naruto to Dart. He walked in front of her and uncrossed his arms. He started to move his arm. His arm was pointing outwards. He took one deep breath. 'OH NO!'

Sakura immediately grabbed Dart's head in her other arm squeezing both Dart and Naruto. "Don't go imitating Naruto's antics!" Sakura whispered loudly in Dart's ear.

"Aww! I wanted to do that! No fair. I should have done it first." Dart complained. "Thanks Naruto," Dart said sarcastically. Naruto grinned. Naruto and Dart's grin were both short lived as Sakura squeezed harder. "Ack!" "Ugh!"

"Shut up both of you!" Sakura said angrily. Dart finally noticing she was uncomfortable let out a smile. "Sakura-chan, don't be scared. These guys are all genin and look how old they are! They can't be that good." Dart whispered just loud enough for Naruto and Sakura to hear.

Sakura gave thought to this. "You're right. That makes me feel a little better." Sakura replied. Sakura looked at the people staring. They looked less threatening. Sakura could see through some of the bluffs. She let out a sigh.

All of a sudden a flash of someone whizzing was seen. Three shinobi all weaved in and out of the genin crowd. One of them struck out at Kabuto. The man was hunched over and was covered completely. His sleeves fell to the ground and his head was bandaged. Kabuto dodge the swipe with a smirk. The ninja, identified as a sound ninja, said nothing. Then Kabuto's glasses broke. Kabuto fell over and vomited leaving everyone with a shocked face.

"You and your cards. You aren't as strong as you seem. No wonder you've been here six times already." The sound ninja stated. "Kabuto!" Naruto yelled as he went to help him up while Sakura followed.

The ninjas turned around to leave. "Oy." The sound ninjas stopped. "Quoting a friend of mine, 'leave the fighting for later'."

The lead sound ninja turned around. "What?" he said hastily. He turned to face Dart standing in front of Kabuto, Naruto, and Sakura. "You should leave the fighting for the exam. However, you seem to want an ass kicking." Dart said with a serious face. The rookie nine remained silent as well as everyone else in the room.

"Ah you, the one with that trained all week. You shouldn't be so cocky." "Same goes for you, causing uproar." The sound ninja became angry. "I'll show you not to get so cocky!" The ninja charged. Dart remained still but got in a defensive position to protect everyone behind him, readying a punch as well.

Then an explosion set off at the front of the room. The cloud of smoke subsided and there was a group of chuunin. In the middle of the group was an older man wearing a bandana and a black trench coat. "That is enough! Sound ninja! There is no fighting until the official exam starts." Everyone's tension was released. The sound ninja stood still. "This isn't over," the lead sound ninja stated before walking away.

"Listen up! My name is Ibiki Morino! I am your proctor for this exam and your worst nightmare. Now everyone take a seat."

Dart walked over to Kabuto who was still shaky. Dart sighed and helped him up. 'Even though he's an enemy, I have to help him.'

"Well. You sure are confident. Thanks." Kabuto said with a smile. "Don't mention it." Naruto looked at Dart. "That was awesome Dart-niichan!"

Dart gave a smile. "Sure was!" They both high-fived. "Alright I'm gonna sit now. Good luck!" Dart said before taking a seat towards the back. Everyone stared at Dart. He became less serious and was back to his silly self. Naruto didn't mind and took a seat as well. Withing the minute the whole room was silent and everyone was seated.

'Hmm, I wonder if I should take a nap.' Dart thought.

The first chuunin exam was difficult. At least it _seemed_ difficult. It was a written exam with ten questions. As expected when Dart looked over his test, he couldn't understand a single one of the questions. Dart had sat at the back and for good reason. Around the midpoint of the test he could see few people scribbling in their test. Every now and then he could see someone using some jutsu, but it was rare.

'Maybe I should answer at least a couple questions.' Dart thought. Dart sighed in jealousy as he saw Sakura writing like mad in her test. 'Well maybe my study sessions with Sakura-chan might pay off after all.' Dart spent the entire hour working on a couple questions.

By the time he was done the exam was almost over. Ibiki had started his final question. "I will ask the final question. However…if you don't answer the question, you fail!" Everyone in the room immediately began to question.

"If you do choose to answer though and you get it right, then you pass. If you get it wrong, you will remain a genin forever!" Everyone was silent from shock. Dart had already made his decision, but he noticed Naruto quiver. 'Hang in there.'

Soon many genin were rising from their seats and leaving. More than half the room was eliminated. Dart didn't see any hesitancy in Sakura and Sasuke, but Naruto was still shaking. 'Well I guess we're going on then.' Dart predicted with a laugh. Knowing the future had its advantages.

Sakura started to raise her hand up. 'I can't let his dreams get crushed. Even if…' Sakura's eyes widened. Naruto raised his hand up. This earned several confused and shocked looks. SLAM! Naruto slammed his hand down. "You don't scare me! I'm not running away even if I remain a genin! I'm still going to become hokage someday!"

The proctor was stunned. 'That was unexpected. Well that kid's got spunk. I'll give him that.' He turned around to the other chuunin. They all nodded.

"Hmm…Congratulations! You all pass!"

Registering for the second exam was quite annoying, for Dart anyway. Never the less he had his registration sheet signed the fastest out of team seven. Now they were jumping through the forest. The Forest of Death. It was infested with large trees covering the sky completely with leaves and branches.

Dart became quite bored. Naruto did as well and complained every once in a while. Dart sighed. 'This isn't as fun as I thought it would be.' Dart eyed Sakura. 'Well a person could die from boredom I think. So I'm gonna exercise my right to protect myself.'

Dart leaped over to Sakura. "What are you doing?" Sakura turned her head to her side. "What kind of question is that? I swear your becoming like Naruto everyday! I'm jumping of course!" Sakura stated. Dart chuckled.

"Ok, I meant, what are you thinking? But I changed my mind," Dart paused. "Speaking of Naruto." Dart said. Sakura eyed him. She had a feeling she wasn't going to be comfortable with his words.

"What about him?" Sakura questioned. Sakura was really curious what her comrade was going to say. "Well, I couldn't help but notice during the first exam…" Dart said slowly.

'Oh god! He's not going to bring that up is he?' Sakura couldn't help think in embarrassment.

"You were going to raise your hand to give up. But I know you and I don't think you would easily give up. You were smart enough to take on any question. Naruto on the other hand was showing some hesitancy. I'm sure you noticed." Dart paused as if waiting for a comment. He continued, "I can tell Sakura-chan. You did it for him, right?"

Sakura looked at him with a blush ready to make its way towards her face. "I…I didn't want to see him crushed." Sakura said without looking at Dart. "I noticed he was scared, but he wouldn't give in so I…" Sakura was almost on the verge of letting out light tears.

"You care for him, don't you?" Dart said to confirm himself. "I…" "It's alright. I didn't mean to startle you. Just…Just sort out your feelings ok?" Dart said softly with a smile. Dart made a large grin and leapt ahead.

After about ten minutes of jumping through the branches, Sasuke stopped. "Let's stop here!" Everyone jumped from the high branches to a small clearing. Sasuke immediately began thinking of a plan. Naruto started to head for the bushes. "I've got to go." Naruto stated.

Dart immediately noticed Sakura's gaze on Naruto. 'Oh crap, she's still thinking about him!' Dart quickly called to Naruto. "Yo! Naruto!" Naruto turned around before he could make a fool of himself.

"Yeah?" "Umm. Never mind. Where are you going again?" Naruto gave Dart a puzzled look and scratched his head. "I'm going to the bathroom."

"Ah! Ok. You're going in the bushes _over there_ right?" Dart said while pointing far off. Naruto caught Dart's drift and nodded in realization. "Of course!" Naruto took off.

Dart let out a sigh of relief. His sigh was short lived when Naruto came back a second later. Dart glanced over to Sasuke. "Sasuke" "I know."

Dart walked over to "Naruto". "Hey Naruto! I have to ask you something!" Dart said with a smile. "Sure!"

Dart put on a large grin and patted his "friend" on the shoulder. "Since when have you become left handed?" Dart's grip tightened and the ninja was raised off the ground by the collar. The henge disappeared and the impostor revealed his true self. It was a mist ninja in a full body suit with a gas mask.

"So you saw through my disguise." "Well yeah. I know my friend better than anyone and also that disguise was pretty pathetic." The mist ninja's face turned into anger. His hand reached for a pouch.

"Don't even think about it!" Dart's grip became tighter. Sasuke walked up to the nin who was held up a foot above the ground. "Do you have the scroll?" Sasuke asked.

"No, consider yourselves lucky because my team will…" the ninja didn't finish his sentence. Dart's fist was in his gut and the ninja had the wind knocked out of him. Dart dropped him to the ground. Sasuke checked the unconscious ninja for the scroll. He was telling the truth. Nothing.

Sakura was very shocked by the turn of events that had just occurred. She stood silent. "Well he's not much use." Dart said while picking up the knocked out mist-nin. Dart pulled his own body back and hurled the ninja. The ninja was sent like a rag doll through the forest hitting branches repeatedly more than a mile away. Sasuke smirked.

Sakura stared in amazement. Dart turned around and grinned, "He'll live." Sakura chuckled and looked around. "Oh my god! Naruto!" Sakura ran in the direction where Naruto was previously seen walking.

Sakura found Naruto tied up and yelling for help. "Sakura-chan!" he yelled. "Did that mist nin get you? If he did I'm gonna…!" Sakura giggled. "Calm down. Dart got him. You should be more careful!" Sakura untied Naruto. Naruto got up and loosened his wrists.

"It's not my fault Sakura-chan! He snuck up behind me right after I finished my…um, 'business'. I couldn't defend myself!" Sakura hit him on the head and then giggled. "Well Baka! Next time have someone go with you!"

"Is everything ok over there?" Dart called from afar. "Everything's fine!" Sakura yelled back.

"We need a plan. We can't have people constantly sneaking on us." Sasuke stated.

Everyone one was seated on the ground in a circle. "What do you suggest?" Sakura asked. Sasuke thought for a moment. "A password."

"A password?" Naruto repeated. "Yes, a phrase we say to each other to confirm it's us." Sasuke explained.

"So if anyone that's an enemy is transformed into us, we'll be able to tell if they are an enemy or not." Dart confirmed. "Exactly."

"Well, what is it?" Naruto asked. Sasuke scooted towards the middle a little closer. "Ok, listen carefully. I'm only going to say this once. I'm going to ask, 'When does a ninja strike? And the answer has to be, 'A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike.'"

Sakura had a smirk on her face. Naruto was in confusion. Dart wasn't much different from Naruto's.

"I think I get it." Dart said breaking the silence. Naruto scratched his head. "Umm sure. Can you say that again?"

"Jeez Naruto! I got it already. You should really practice your memorization skills." Sakura said. Dart sighed. "Don't worry Naruto I'll help you with it. Even though she is kind of right."

"Hey! It's not my fault that I'm not as smart as Sakura-chan!" I'm not as smart as Sakura-chan either! I'm just saying you could learn better memory skills."

"Hmph! Right whatever." "You know what! You probably wouldn't even be in this situation if you studied more as a kid!"

"It's not like you study." "I'm not talking about me! We're talking about you!"

"I think you're a hypocrite." "What! Right back at you! Besides, I studies with Sakura-chan!" "After she forced you to!"

"Shut up you can just…! Argh! This is pointless!" "Heh heh! Nothing more to say?"

"You know what! Don't make me sick your girlfriend over there on you!" "Sakura-chan is not my girlfriend!"

"You wish she was!" "EH?!" "Ha! Look who's speechless now!" "Why you!"

Sakura and Sasuke had sweat drops on the back of their head as they stared at the two room mates argue. Sakura's eyebrow twitched when ever she heard her name, and "girlfriend" in the same sentence.

After a long argument, Dart and Naruto were both laughing. "Done?" Sasuke asked. "Yup." Dart replied.

Suddenly all the trees were blowing and leaves were flying everywhere. There was a strong gust and everyone was covering their face with their arms.

Dart tried to see what was going on. Sasuke and Sakura were stumbling trying to find something to grip as the wind kept knocking them back. Dart was holding his ground effectively as he simply stomped the ground leaving his feet planted to the floor. Naruto was no where to be seen.

Finally the wind subsided and everyone stood up. Sakura and Sasuke were about ten feet from their original positions while Dart was stuck in his original spot thanks to his strength and his feet in the ground.

'Where's Naruto?' Dart questioned in his mind. On queue Naruto came running from the trees. "Is everyone ok!?" Sasuke immediately reacted.

"What's the pass phrase?!" Sasuke asked as he got a kunai ready. "Oh right. A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike."

Sasuke grinned. In a second he immediately punched Naruto in the face sending him flying. Sakura gasped. "He got it right though! Why'd you do that Sasuke?!" Sakura asked.

"Because he's not Naruto, Sakura-chan". Dart answered. "The real Naruto wouldn't have been able to memorize that phrase." Dart continued. Sakura thought about this. 'He's actually right. Naruto wouldn't have been able to say that. He would have given some dumb answer or something.'

"Hm hm hm hm. I guess you got me. You know your teammate very well," the fake Naruto stated. The impostor Naruto released his disguise and returned to normal. It was a grass nin with long black hair and a large purple rope tied around their waist. Their eyes though were very intimidating. The eyes were very reptilian like.

'That…that ninja!' Dart could think in horror. "Ah yesss. You must be the Uchiha. My my, I've heard quite a bit about you," the grass nin said.

Sasuke stood still. This ninja wasn't any ordinary ninja. How did he know about him? The grass ninja suddenly put his right hand over his left eye. He pulled some of the skin back! The skin underneath was pale and the eye's pupil widened.

In a flash, Dart saw blinding light. However he was far from blinded. A kunai went straight through his neck. He was bleeding! He clutched his throat as blade after blade went through his body. Suddenly he noticed one of the kunai had a tag sticking off of it.

'An explosion tag!' The kunai imbedded itself in Dart's chest. The sizzling was getting worse. 'Oh no!' Dart waited.

The explosion never came. _**'Snap out of it!'**_ Vertilous' voice never sounded any more soothing at that time. Dart was actually glad to hear it.

Dart couldn't move. Neither could Sakura or Sasuke. They were paralyzed. 'From one gaze? How?!' Sasuke thought.

'_**This person…he's not ordinary. I can sense the blood lust. The murderous intent.'**_ Dart stood still. 'I have to stop him!' _**'Don't be foolish! He could kill us both!'**_ 'It doesn't matter!'

Dart's hand twitched. 'Good. I just need to move a little more.' Dart noticed Sasuke and Sakura were completely frozen. They wouldn't budge an inch. Sakura was crying and trembling. Sasuke was shaking also. 'I guess because it was a form of genjutsu I didn't affect me much.'

'_**To be able to see your own death. That is tormenting. That man is a monster.'**_ 'Well I guess I should thank you.'

"The prey always runs, but the hunter always prevails. You should have run when you had the chance. Now you shall fall victim to my jutsu!" "I won't let you!" Dart yelled. Dart started charging with a fist raised. 'I can't let Orochimaru hurt Sakura or Sasuke! If I kill him I can prevent the bad things in the future! He can't give the curse mark!'

Dart threw shuriken towards Orochimaru. The snake man easily dodged, but found himself in front of Dart. "Impressive. You managed to free yourself from your fear." Dart attempted a punch, but his arms wouldn't move. He looked at his body. He was tied by a tongue!

'What the hell!' Dart traced the tongue's origin to Orochimaru. "You are an interesting prey. It's a shame, but you are in my way!" Dart's eyes widened. E was lifted off the ground. The tongue started to spin around wildly. It stopped quickly and unwrapped itself sending Dart flying in the opposite direction with great force.

Dart flew through the trees. His back hit multiple branches, but he never slowed. Soon he actually went through the trees themselves making holes in the center. Finally his body slammed against a grand tree. He fell down and body twisted and turned as his crash to the floor was interrupted by more branches. Dart was barely conscious, but he could of sworn he saw running water below him.

Naruto was scared. Where was everyone? What if something had happened to them? 'Damn it! I shouldn't have gotten separated! That giant snake hadn't helped either!' Naruto followed a large path engraved by some force. It was very long and looked to be made by the wind that had forced him back. Naruto was hit by the storm directly and had flown far away. When he came to there was a large snake to greet him.

Through luck Naruto had defeated the snake by creating multiple kage bunshin in the belly of the snake causing it to explode. Now he was desperately trying to find his friends. 'Where are you guys!?'

Naruto finally came to the clearing where he was before blasted away. He looked around. Naruto climbed up a tree to get a better survey of the area. 'Come on! You guys have to be here somewhere!' Naruto then noticed a glimpse of pink.

'Sakura-chan!' Naruto quickly leaped through the branches towards Sakura-chan. As he got closer, he saw Sasuke as well. There he also saw a weird ninja wrapped around a tree like a snake. Sasuke and Sakura seemed frightened of him and were trying to stop him.

'What the? That's freaky! He's trying to get to Sakura-chan and Sasuke! I have to stop him!' As the ninja climbed up the tree rapidly, Naruto threw some kunai to stop him. The kunai landed right in front if his face. "What the?"

Everyone looked over to Naruto. "Don't ever try to hurt my friends!" Naruto yelled. Sakura let out a face of happiness. "Naruto! That was cool!" Naruto couldn't help but blush.

"Naruto! Stay out of this!" Sasuke yelled. Orochimaru leapt off the tree and onto a branch several feet away from Sasuke. "Well Sasuke. If you just give me your scroll. Then I'll leave you and your team with your lives!"

Sasuke paused. Naruto stared at him in disbelief. Sasuke reached into his pouch and pulled out the scroll needed to pass the exam. "Just take it and go." All of a sudden Naruto appeared in front of Sasuke and punched him directly in the face.

Sasuke flew back surprised by the force. "How could you! You can't be the real Sasuke! The real Sasuke wouldn't be such a coward so such a thing!" Naruto said fiercely.

"Naruto you dobe! I am the real Sasuke! I'm doing this for out own good!" Sasuke yelled back. "Do you honestly think he'll just leave us alone! He'll just kill us! I can't believe you! You coward!" Naruto yelled. His voice sounded much deeper, almost darker.

"Well Sasuke. I was actually going to kill you when I got the scroll, but now I'm afraid I'm going to have to take it from you by force!" Naruto turned to Orochimaru. "I'm gonna stop you!"

Naruto's speed was much faster, but the branches below him broke as Orochimaru released another wind jutsu. Naruto flew upwards by the force. "Now then, it's time to end this." Orochimaru said. With in seconds, a giant snake speared in front of Orochimaru. The snake darted forward towards Naruto. Naruto was falling downwards and immediately began a punching frenzy to the behemoth snake's face.

Surprisingly the snake reacted to the punches and smashed Naruto to the side with its head. "Well then! Go get the Uchiha!" Orochimaru yelled. The snake charged Sasuke who was completely frozen. Sasuke put his arms to defend himself. The impact never came. There was a loud BANG. Sasuke was stunned. Naruto was standing in front of him.

"Hey. Are you ok, scaredycat?" Naruto said as he held the snake back. Sasuke said nothing. Suddenly a tongue wrapped itself around Naruto and took him away. Orochimaru held Naruto tight while he thrashed. Orochimaru suddenly struck Naruto's chest with his hand. "Five Pronged Seal!"

Naruto screamed in pain, but went limp before Orochimaru threw him off to the side. Sakura panicked. "Naruto!" Sakura quickly threw a shuriken which impaled Naruto's jacket to a tree halting his fall. "Sasuke!"

Sasuke tensed. "You have to do something Sasuke!" Sasuke didn't respond. "Naruto may be rash and jump into situations, but…" Sakura paused, "At least he's not a coward!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. He had to. He had to fight even if it meant death. Orochimaru just smiled. Sasuke stopped shaking. 'If Naruto could find the courage, so can I! I cannot die here!'

Orochimaru stopped smiling. He dispelled the snake. "Well it seems someone wants to fight!" Sasuke took a defensive stance and closed his eyes. He opened them and they were no longer black, but red.

Orochimaru charged Sasuke. Sasuke simply stood still. The world slowed down. The incoming blows were slower and Sasuke deflected them with arms at ease. Sasuke made a punch and vaulted over Orochimaru, aiming a kick for his head in mid-air. Orochimaru snickered and vanished.

Sasuke tensed, nut remained calm. He looked around him. He surveyed the trees and found nothing. 'I have to trust my eyes.' Sasuke immediately spotted movement above him. He pulled out a kunai and threw it upwards.

"Die!" Orochimaru yelled. The kunai missed its target as Orochimaru positioned him self in an angle to just barely dodge the kunai. Orochimaru looked back towards Sasuke, but he wasn't there.

Suddenly a kick to the face was landed on Orochimaru in midair. Orochimaru flew and fell towards the forest floor which seemed very far away. Sasuke immediately jumped after the limp body. Clutching Orochimaru's waist he pushed his weight towards the ground. Orochimaru could only hasp before his head smashed into the ground.

Sasuke jumped off and stepped back Sakura jumped over to Sasuke's branch. The body fell over defeated. Suddenly it turned to mud and slipped off the branch. The real Orochimaru rose out of the branch. "Impressive Sasuke. You shall be mine!"

In an instant, Orochimaru's neck extended and his mouth was on Sasuke's neck, biting it. Sasuke screamed again while Sakura froze. Orochimaru's head slithered back. "You will seek me out for power, Sasuke." Then he vanished. Sasuke collapsed to the ground screaming in pain.

Sakura never felt so alone before. She was tired and slightly hungry. She was in a small cave-like structure formed by the roots of a giant tree. There was Sasuke and Naruto, both resting. They were out of it. Naruto was knocked out cold, while Sasuke would turn, twist, and occasionally grunt.

Sakura was on the verge of sleep. Her eyelids were getting heavy. Luckily she had the whole area booby trapped. She turned back towards Sasuke and Naruto. 'Why did you have to leave me alone? I'm so scared right now what if?'

Sakura shook her head. 'I won't let that happen! I will protect you guys!' Sakura looked directly at Naruto. 'If it weren't for you, we would probably be….' Sakura froze. She didn't want to think about that. Sakura looked back and forth between the two. She remembered her conversation with Dart.

'_Just sort your feelings ok? Heh heh! What the hell do we know about love right? You care for him don't you?' _ Sakura glanced at them both. 'Do I have to choose?' Sakura' thoughts immediately stopped. 'Oh god! Where's Dart!' Sakura's eyes were getting slightly watery.

Suddenly she heard a presence. She turned around and her eyes widened. There were those sound ninja. 'The ones from earlier!' Sakura gasped.

"We've come for Sasuke! So wake him up!" one of the other sound ninja yelled. "It seems your 'cocky' friend isn't here. Oh well. We'll just make sure he knows we dropped by." The female sound ninja pulled out a Kunai knife and made a chuckle. Sakura immediately panicked. They made a leap towards Sakura. Sakura grinned and cut a nearby wire.

A huge log came out of no where and flew towards the sound nin. The next second the log was decimated. The sound nin laned. "Do you think that will be enough to stop us?" the lead sound ninja asked. He looked over to the female nin. "Kin, get her!"

In a flash, Sakura had her hair being tugged by Kin. She couldn't move. "Dosu, get the Uchiha!" "Right." The lead sound ninja walked over towards Sasuke. Suddenly he was kicked in the face. "Konoha Senpu!"

Dosu flew back a little. There was Rock Lee in front of him. "A three on one match is not fair. Right now your opponent is me!" "Lee!" Sakura yelled happily. "Fine!" Dosu yelled.

Rock Lee let loosed his bandages. "Get ready." Lee stated. Dosu flinched and in a second he felt a huge blow to his chest. Lee was crouched down and had kicked him upwards. Lee jumped up and wrapped his bandages around him. "Omote Renge!" Lee yelled. Lee started to spin wildly as well as Dosu as the deadly pile driver steered into the ground.

Lee landed away from the landing site fatigued. Dosu was in a soft pile of dirt. He got up and stood again. "What? How?!" Lee questioned. Dosu's teammate laughed and showed his hands. I can manipulate air currents with my hands using my chakra as a force. So I basically inflated the ground and it was soft as a pillow." Dosu charged Lee and attempted a punch. Lee dodge it and leaped back a few feet.

Lee suddenly grabbed his ear in pain. He fell over dizzy. Sakura could only watch as her fellow Konoha comrade began to be beaten by the sound's unknown jutsu. She felt the tugging at her hair grow worse. "My my. We sure have useless ninja here. You can't even help your friends!"

Sakura tensed. She was useless. She couldn't help her friends. Sakura looked at Sasuke, Naruto, and Lee. 'You've tried to protect me. I've been watching from the back.' Sakura's hand reached for her Kunai pouch. 'I won't let you down!'

Sakura's hair flew. Kin's grip loosed as she grabbed at flying hairs. Sakura flew towards Zaku. Zaku smirked and threw a kunai at her. There was an explosion of smoke. 'A kawarimi eh?'

Zaku noticed another Sakura dash for him. "Don't toy with me!" Zaku yelled as he threw another kunai. Sakura turned into a log upon impact. 'Where is she now?' Zaku looked around. He looked up and saw Sakura falling towards him. Within the second he threw a kunai at her chest and looked around. 'Where is she now?'

Zaku felt a drop of blood on his face. He looked up and his eyes widened. "She's real!" A kunai impaled his wrist and Sakura punched him to the ground. Sakura felt so desperate she bit his arm and clamped down hard on Zaku's arm, not caring about her own wounds. Zaku started screaming and repeatedly started punching her in the face.

Sakura wouldn't let go and took all the blows. She was heavily bruised and sore. After a while Zaku pushed her off and Sakura fell to the ground next to Naruto and Sasuke. She tried to crawl over to the, but she wouldn't move.

"You bitch! I was going to let you live, but now you're going to die!" Zaku screamed as he charged. Sakura's eyes were starting to tear and she glanced at Sasuke and Naruto.

'If I only I had more time to choose.' Sakura closed her eyes waiting for the deathblow. Zaku screamed as he ran. A huge quake echoed through the forest. The ground shook from the force and everyone stumbled for a second. The shaking occurred for a split second.

Sakura looked up and saw clad in black. Black, spiky, blowing in the wind with arms to the side with fists clenched. Zaku stopped and smirked. Sakura swore she would give they boy in front of her a hug everyday for the rest of her life when she saw him at this moment.

"Sakura-chan. You did well. You can rest now. Just leave the rest to me." He whispered.

A tear started to fall down Sakura's cheek. "Thank you…Dart-kun."

"Oy! How dare you hurt my friends! I'm gonna make you pay you bastards!" Dart yelled.

Chapter End

Cliffhanger! Heh heh. I hate these, but I felt like having one. This chapter took a lot out of me. Again I'm sorry if people were a little bored with this chapter because I took most of the scenes from the chuunin exam. I had to because that's how it happened and I didn't want to change it. I tried to add in my own original bits and pieces to it. Hopefully it was still good. Next chapter will be preliminaries which I'm kind of dreading and excited for. There's a certain fight I've been fantasizing for a while and I can finally put it in words. I'll try to have it by the end of the week. This was my longest chapter yet. I hope I can put this much effort into my later chapters.


	5. Update note!

Coming soon!

Hello all! For those loyal fans that have reviewed and liked, I DEEPLY apologize for the length of time its been. I've decided to pick up this fic and finish it. I'm so sorry for the huge delay .

I'm really surprised how well my first fic turned out and how many people liked the story. I was afraid my OC would make things boring and what not. So I don't want to disappoint people any further and want to continue this.

Well it's been a few years so my writing has improved and I reread my earlier chapters and I'm starting to see what was working and what hasn't. I'm not changing anything from my original plot plan but more so in the style. For instance I felt I didn't do enough characterization for Naruto or the other main characters. Also as some people may have pointed out, some of the other characters need some spot light too! I'll try and incorporate that some more to understand more closely what they're thinking which would make scenes that manga and anime readers are familiar with a little more exciting. I really don't plan on imitating the entire canon plot so do not worry there will be PLENTY of twists and turns soon. I just need to get past some parts that are necessary such as the exams and what not and hopefully I can jump into Shippuden pretty soon, though not too soon. I don't wanna rush the PTS : )

I already have some of chapter 5 written already and I will be writing that soon. Give me some tips or feel free to PM.

Thanks for people giving tips on my writing style and especially with honorifics. I will definitely do more research on that and if possible do some edits on the previous chapters.

Again! Sorry for the huge delay! D:


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